I wanted the most unromantic light possible — noon, no shadows, no mystery. The kind of light that shows every pore and every competence. The relationship here is pedagogical: master to apprentice, experienced hands guiding uncertain ones. The Tuvan-Calabrian fusion felt right because both cultures know something about animals as wealth, about itinerancy, about the practical poetry of keeping things alive through skill. I wanted her happy in the specific way of someone good at their job and generous enough to teach it. — Volt