Transforming … A House Into A Home, Your Home!
Cumberland
Kitchen
&
Bath
DesignCenter
1764 Mendon Rd., Cumberland, RI email: info @ cumberlandkitchen. com 401.334.7317
cumberlandkitchen. com
ASTRO
MOVING & STORAGE
401.397.8484 astronewengland. com
• Agent for National Van Lines
• Family Owned and Operated
• Expert packing and crating services
• Local, long distance, international moves
• Climate controlled, video surveillance storage facility
FULLY LICENSED AND INSURED * RI DPUMC # 2287
DANNKO VIA ADOBE STOCK
NAVIGATING THE
Legal Landscape
SUPPORT
GUIDANCE
HELP
Rita and Kevin Beck, Owners
Let Our Family Move Your Family
Facials • Bodyworks • Massage Hair CHRISTMAS Services • Nail Bar IN • Pedicure JULY Zone
Purchase a gift card of $ 200 CHRISTMAS or more and receive a IN JULY
Purchase bonus gift a gift card card of $ 25 of. $ 200 or more and( receive Exp. 12 / 31 a / 26 bonus) gift card of $ 25.
( Exp. 12 / 31 / 26)
Facials Spaworks Massage Hair Services
401-739-0836 bluesky 401-739-0836
@ blueskyspaworks. com bluesky @ blueskyspaworks. com
80 Lambert 80 Lind Lambert Highway Lind Highway, Warwick, Warwick( clock( clock tower tower))
ADVICE
Civil Litigation & Criminal Defense
Nail Bar Pedicure Zone Aroma Bar
401-331-3400 • rhgllp. com 40 Westminster St., Providence, RI
PHOTO BY LISA BRUNO
Q & A
You turned down many filmmakers who wanted to make a movie out of your story. What made you choose the final crew? TOWNSEND: The turning down was for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which being that the story as a narrative was doing just fine on its own. It didn’ t need a movie or a TV series or a book. It was nice to not have my face attached to it because then I could just drift into the realm of folklore. It’ s been wild in the last fifteen to sixteen years to watch this thing continue to evolve online. It would jump to the top of Reddit every five years and people would rediscover the story all over again. I liked that it was being introduced to new audiences without us doing anything.
Jeremy [ Workman ] is a unicorn director for us because we met him by accident in Athens, Greece, working on a Tape Art project. He was shooting a documentary, so we got to witness him doing his job and see how he works with his subjects. I’ d seen some of his movies and really liked them because he makes movies about eccentrics or artists. He’ s good at being the bridge between those types of people and people who are curious about those types of people. He got the green light because he understood that to tell the story about the mall, you have to tell the story about everything we’ re doing at the same time. All the other artworks simultaneously feed into each other. We’ re testing ideas, we’ re testing out boundaries and what it means to do work illegally, and we’ re willing to accept the consequences if things go south. He was also able to convince the other seven artists to say yes, which was a huge feat.
Were the other artists fearful of being pigeonholed into that becoming their entire identity? TOWNSEND: Definitely. I don’ t know what kind of magic Jeremy worked to get them on the film. Some of these artists, they’ re deeper in their art. Once you get labeled as someone who lived in a mall, that’ s a hard thing to shake.
Did you ever feel that? TOWNSEND: No, not necessarily. Partly
48 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY I JULY 2026