All animals share a singular finite existence, sensed, known or imposed.
In South Africa’s savannah, animals roam familiar and foreign terrain, alone or communally, in search of water, food, mate and kin. With hearts uncaged they face extinction with dignity or ferocity, as circumstances demand or allow.
The human animal has become accustomed to roaming alone, without benefit of physicality, inside perpetual virtual cells. Domesticated by consumerism and tethered to social media’s promise of mate or community, it is paralyzed by petty joys and enormous injustices alike, as words and images land like baited arrows from distant skies and unseen predators.
In real time and proximal space, animal to animal, sharing quiet or messy moments, one realizes what is being lost as we cage ourselves in the hollowed shells deemed necessary for others’ consumption.