Tinte

Anna Sommer drew inspiration from the silent and masterfully crafted paper-cut narrative of the Japanese lucky charm figure, Daruma. The figure is based on a Buddhist monk who is said to have meditated for nine years without interruption to attain enlightenment. According to legend, Daruma once fell asleep during this meditation. When he awoke, he was so angry about this lack of discipline that he cut off his eyelids. As a result, the Daruma lucky charm, made of papier-mâché, has two empty spaces instead of eyes: to represent a wish, one eye is colored in first. When the wish is fulfilled, the second eye is colored in, and the lucky charm is burned.

In "Ink," the main character paints the first eye onto her previously blind face. However, before she can begin painting the second eye — the fulfillment of the wish — a monkey drinks the remaining ink. This marks the beginning of an adventurous search for ink and fulfillment. More important than the exact content of the wish in Anna Sommer's narrative is the question of the value of the wish itself: sometimes, the feeling of having a wish can be more significant than its fulfillment, with the ink metaphorically representing external validations of all kinds. Does the main character ultimately find fulfillment in the search or in a fulfilled wish?

"The awakened eye. Back in the 90s, we couldn't believe our eyes: Anna Sommer let women step into the open air through refrigerators in polar worlds, and there were ladies who approached their lovers in the skin of their husbands. Readers accepted it without batting an eye. Fascinated and increasingly liberated from all shame, they watched the spectacle. But those who wondered who or what might have awakened this fearless gaze of the artist had to wait a quarter of a century — and may find answers in "Ink."

Resolute, yet one-eyed.