Nothing Like It
A 2017 Juxtapozinterview with artist Nathaniel Mary Quinn vs. a 2025 Isolated Nationinterview with filmmaker Payal Kapadia
Nathaniel Mary Quinn: Yeah, it was like the heavens were opening for me
Payal Kapadia: That would require 10,000 people and a lot of imagination, which I feel I don’t have
Quinn: Which is false, no truth in that at all. I’d just draw the slither of the eye and the slither of the nose, and maybe part of mouth
Kapadia: So, we decided that we’d shoot it like a documentary, with a very small camera
Quinn: That’s it. Nothing like it
•••
Kapadia: And I feel we don’t loiter enough
Quinn: No one is exempt from the waves of life. You learn to live with abrupt changes in your life and they impact your identity as a human being
Kapadia: Unfortunately, that’s how the world is designed. The rice cooker is something that is just glamorous enough
Quinn: There wasn’t anything in there except a few articles of clothing
Kapadia: Maybe it’s a bit of a cheesy thing to say, but we’re all trying our best, you know?
•••
Quinn: And you have to be a highly empathetic person to be able to embrace the journey with human complexity
Kapadia: I think there is something universal in those connections
Quinn: Yeah, yeah. Nah, I didn’t sell anything
Kapadia: (laughs) Those scenes were not in the script when I started making the movie
Quinn: I would draw on the walls, and my mom would wash the walls and would let me draw again
—Raymond Cummings has written for Splice Today since 2010
