Must-sea TV

Back in 2007, I created a picture of a lion tamer wielding a whip at a television set broadcasting the image of a tiger as a cynical commentary on so-called “reality TV”. Unfortunately, I didn’t build the image at a resolution that would allow me to do anything with it beyond displaying it on-screen. Thus, I reimagined the concept with a different—more dire—premise. In this case, a young, vulnerable, and impressionable swimmer is caught without the luxury of separation between his world and the two-dimensional peril he is watching. Bathed in the same medium, predator and prey now inhabit a shared environment in real-time and real-life. There is no cutting to commercial or changing the channel in order to dominate, delay, or avoid the danger here. I mean, after all, sharks are generally more interested in their next meal rather than inciting ratings bonanzas or pausing for station identification and/or airtime for corporate sponsors.