We live in a predominantly digital world, with most things accessible through the internet. We can find information about almost anything, meet people all over the world, even watch videos about essentially any topics that exists. But the one issue with digital is that its foundation is inherently shaky. It depends on technology that breaks down over time, formats that stop being used over higher quality upgrades. If digital were to fail, we’d have to return to a form of analog communication.
The Colour of Ink is a new Canadian documentary by journalist and filmmaker Brian D. Johnson (who previously directed Al Purdy Was Here) about a Toronto-based ink maker called Jason Logan. He’s the owner and sole employee of the Toronto Ink Company, which creates ink from various materials and ships them all over the world. This documentary takes a look at Logan’s life, his process, and several customers around the world who use his ink.
The documentary, beautifully shot by Nicholas de Pencier (who is nominated for a Canadian Screen Award), keeps the viewer’s eyes focused on the process of ink making. We see every step in great detail, from foraging the materials all over the world, breaking them down, and making the final result. It’s an ancient process, one that’s been used for millennia. Logan sees a spiritual, transcendent nature in the alchemy involved in making ink. The creation of his ink is essentially a scientific art, one that can lead to the creation of more art.
He tells me he’s incredibly proud to be part of this long tradition, especially as it allows him to travel the world and see how others make ink. One experience shown in the documentary that had a profound effect on him is when he travelled to Oaxaca, Mexico and visited a traditional Indigenous dyer. He saw him create an ink made from bugs that live in cactus plants, something he’d never had the opportunity to see before. “There was something about this kind of tradition meets do-it-yourself meets a little bit of alchemy.”
The film doesn’t just focus on the creation of ink, but also its many uses. From tattoo artists, to cartoonists, to even just writing, ink is versatile. Ink can also be therapeutic, a process for those to move on. But what is most impressive about ink is its permanence. Many records from millennia ago written in ink still stand today as the only record from those eras, and unlike many digital forms of art nowadays it could theoretically last much longer.
I spoke to the film’s director as well, who tells me that he discovered there are some similarities between his form of art and Logan’s. Filmmaking and ink making are “the same process. You go out and you gather stuff, you filter it, you mix it and you package it.” But the main difference is that while film can stand the test of time, it’s a much younger form of art. Digital film can be filtered out by technology, and even celluloid film can degrade over time. “Ink is kind of the closest thing that we have to preserving the human record for millennia. Nothing else does that.”
The film does a good job of placing the viewer into Logan’s mindset, by showing his travels and process in its entirety. We see the effect that foraging had on him in his childhood, as well as his journeys around the world to meet the people who use his ink. The film reaches a catharsis towards the end when it shows the creation of something new for Logan, a magnetic ink. It’s a challenging process for him, but an accomplishing one that’s exciting to watch.
The Colour of Ink does what all good films do, it showcases something most don’t know about in complete depth. The process, the art, and the effect of ink making, this documentary shines a light on one of the oldest forms of creation. It’s an excellent film to learn from, and that’s why the Colour of Ink gets a 4/5. You can watch my interviews with both the filmmaker Brian D. Johnson, and Jason Logan, below.
The film starts playing at the Ted Rogers Hot Docs Cinema on March 23rd, as well as in several other cities across the country. There is also a special event with Logan on Saturday, March 25th where anyone can come meet him and experiment with ink. You can register online for that event at the Centre for Social Innovation Annex here.
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