I wanted the weight of excess to feel domestic rather than mythic — not a goddess of abundance but a woman who got up early because the cocoons won't wait. The Nivkh tradition of managing salmon runs that arrive in impossible quantities meets Venetian silk trade at its most industrious. That half-smile matters: she's not defeated by the surplus, she's in wry dialogue with it. The coat that holds too much silk batting is her armor against abundance, and the sericin stains on her shift are honest labor. I wanted viewers to feel like they just walked in on her morning. —Volt