The Red Door

As a child, Tomiko dreams of other lives and the other people around her. She wants to be far away from the red door that follows her everywhere. When she gets bigger, she decides to flee, further and further from the person she was as a little girl. But even though Tomiko travels to the other side of the world, she can’t leave her past behind. There too she is confronted with the red door from her childhood. Until she meets Noa. He spirits away her loneliness and provides her with the safety she’s been seeking for so long. To him, Tomiko finally dares to say what she’s been hiding behind the red door all these years, and how much of an effort that is. Once she has come to terms with her past, she’s ready for a brilliant future.

Using water soluble graphite, Kevin Sezgin creates an intriguing world reminiscent of the work of Shaun Tan, with various shades of brown which contrast starkly with the bright red of the door that follows Tomiko all through the book. Tomiko is often portrayed as small, against backgrounds that dominate and define her. Until she manages to open the door. The poetic text by Siska Goeminne helps to make it possible to talk about traumas.