December 2019

Tame Ink

by V. B. Borjen

About the Creator

V. B. Borjen was born in 1987 in the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia and now lives in the Czech Republic. His work in Bosnian has previously appeared in magazines across the former Yugoslav region and Hungary, including Strane, P.U.L.S.E., NEMA and the daily Oslobodenje. His first poetry collection Prirucnik za levitiranje - Levitation Manual - won the 2012 Mak Dizdar Award and was published the following year to significant acclaim. His poetry and prose originally written in English have previously appeared in Hypothetical: A Review of Everything Imaginable, AZURE and the Esthetic Apostle. His paintings have been featured in Not Your Mother's Breast Milk and most recently in the October 2019 issue of the Chaleur Magazine. Tame ink is a series of ink on paper paintings reflecting some aspects of daily life. What unites them is the tame palette, particularly the colour gold as a recurrent motif, as well the style they were painted in. Their individual titles are as follows: 1. Summer in the Anteroom: Coming back from Work 2. Skinny-dipping in the Lake Where Her Mother Swims in All Seasons 3. 'Like This': Still Life with Rumi 4. Young Franz 5. Near the Gate to Demonika's Orchard