"Testing the Waters"

6:31 video loop, stereo (2008)

I am currently building up a video collection of violent human-and-animal scenarios from fictional movies with the goal of editing the material together into one fluid work (currently dubbed "The Wilderness"). "Testing the Waters", which specifically details sharks, is a spur from this project in an effort to give birth to some of the ideas that have developed during the last year of watching these movies. It is as much a nod to my childhood fascination with sharks as it is a piece of humor and an exercise in process.

"While some informed people may have decided that sharks are really not so bad, they yet may find reasons for not swimming in the ocean. Traditional island peoples widely regard the shark as a spiritual being whose analogous aspect in the human self is an embryo. That sharks rip open the body of their victims has a double horror of an unborn monster ravaging the self. Sharks are neither intrinsically terrible nor sacred, but they are utterly fascinating and therefore a perfect candidate for encoding extreme feelings and concepts."

- Paul Shepard, The Others