Part of HKFP’s four-part zine scene series.
Artist Kaitlin Chan, who spent her childhood and formative years in Hong Kong, used to feel intimidated by the overwhelming visual stimuli in the city. She often found herself wanting to rush through the bustling streets, where everyone’s lives seemed to be happening all at once.
However, after studying in the US for around four years, her time away sparked a “renewed curiosity” for her hometown. The same rhythm of life that once overwhelmed her became an inspiration, driving the cartoonist to create zines that celebrate the beauty of the most commonplace things in Hong Kong’s everyday life.
From the traditional Chinese tear-off calendar to restaurant menus, the aesthetics of typography and graphic design unique to the city have complemented Chan’s exploration of topics related to food, relationships, culture, and her readjustment to life back in Hong Kong.
One of her favourite activities now is to be an “eavesdropper” and to cultivate curiosity about the lives of people around her. Through this process of being “very present,” the 29-year-old said she can distance herself from a sense of internal stagnancy and mentally prepare herself to “face the world.”
“It also destabilised the idea that art is a rarefied object that is removed from our daily life, when in fact, life is where artists get inspired,” she told HKFP in an interview earlier this year.
While studying at Wesleyan University from 2013 to 2017, Chan, who majored in East Asian Studies and Studio Art, found it eye-opening to witness the journey of other individuals becoming professional cartoonists, poets, and musicians. There were also talents in Hong Kong but they were not always “visible,” she said.
The university in Middleton, Connecticut offered a much simpler and slower pace of life compared to the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong. Initially, the Hongkonger arrived at the institution with a sense of dread, fearing that her world would become “very small.” However, she soon discovered this change of environment allowed her to connect with her inner world on a deeper level.
“You realise you have an internal life, an internal world that can be very rich, if you are stimulated by other people’s thoughts and ideas. So you’re never actually alone, and you’re also never actually fixed in place and time,” she said.
First risograph zine
After Chan returned to Hong Kong in July 2017, she connected with Beatrix Pang, the founder of the independent art publishing house Small Tune Press. Through this collaboration, Chan acquired printing techniques and swiftly released her debut risograph zine Slow Day, showcasing a series of marker-tracings of the streets of Hong Kong in red and blue. Only 10 copies were printed.
Small Tune Press took a few copies of Chan’s zine to the Singapore Art Book Fair in 2018, and to her surprise, they quickly sold out. The success of her early experiment in making art after graduation encouraged her to release more self-published work, including long-form comics.
Chan, who currently works part-time at Empty Gallery Hong Kong as an associate director, described herself as a multidisciplinary artist with a keen interest in various art forms such as film, comics, and poetry. For her, zines provided a “cheap, anonymous, and accessible” platform to merge her diverse passions into one creative outlet.
“This idea that other people were actually interested in this really small, insignificant and inconsequential thing I made was very heartening to me,” she recalled.
While the support of her readers was a driving force for Chan to persist in her creative endeavours, what the artist holds most close to heart is the backing of her family. One day she came home from school and saw a large wooden desk that was long enough for her to lie on. It was a gift from her mother, who told Chan that she could make her art on it.
“It felt like an investment in my future. [My mother] doesn’t always understand what I do, but she really tries. And by equipping me with that desk, I didn’t have to limit my dreams,” she said, choking up.
Graphic novels
After delving into the world of zines for nearly six years, Chan decided to shift her focus to creating graphic novels. Last year, she unveiled her debut graphic novel entitled Eric’s Sister, which revolves around the relationship between two siblings in their twenties who aspire to be artists.
Asked why she switched to a new creative outlet, Chan explained that, like many artists, she wanted to challenge herself and push the boundaries of what she deemed possible. After becoming comfortable in a particular format, creators often seek new avenues for exploration, she said.
Chan acknowledged the immense difficulty of crafting a cohesive story and ensuring consistent character representation throughout her graphic novel. She started the drawing process in January last year and set a goal of completing ten pages each week. Although she missed a few weeks throughout the year, she managed to finish the drawings by Halloween, subsequently initiating the editing process.
During the editing process, Chan’s studio walls were adorned with various colours of memo stickers as she repeatedly rearranged plot points until she felt satisfied with the ending.
“Sometimes you do have to do things by hand… reverting back to the simplest method does help you see the scope of a project that is hard to look at [with] a glance,” she said.
While the traditional publishing process can be “agonising” due to the months-long wait for the final product, Chan said self-publishing offers creators the opportunity to see their work in physical form within a matter of weeks.
In November last year, a book launch party was held for Eric’s Sister, which saw an impressive turnout of more than 80 attendees, including Chan’s mother and sister. Recently, the book was submitted for the 2024 Cartoonist Studio Prize in the US and it has been selected as a finalist in the Long-Form Comic Category. The winners of the prize will be announced shortly.
‘Bookend’ of life
Chan is now into making her second graphic novel, which contains “surrealist characters with unusual, flowy bodies.” She had printed a zine in a similar style before, and it was time for her to see if she can create a book in that style.
The shift in her creative style is a common occurrence for artists, a reflection of their evolving mental state, Chan said. For her, each of her works serves as a “bookend” that frames different eras of her life. Previously, being self-loathing had been a defining aspect of her identity, but as she approaches her thirties, Chan is eager to explore the possibility of embracing confidence and self-assurance.
“I’m quite unfixed right now. I don’t feel 100 per cent wedded to who I am. It feels like a nice time to [ask], who else can I be?” she said.
This interview is the second in a four-part series on Hong Kong’s zine scene. Tune in next week when we speak to Charis Poon.
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