Last month, I was interviewed about my art, my work as an illustrator, my life as well as my community project, “Das Blaue Haus” (“The Blue House”). The interview appeared on SWR Aktuell Rheinland-Pfalz, a regional news broadcasting channel in Germany.
Filming took place in my home studio.
This may be coming out of left field for some of you, so to give some quick context: I started Das Blaue Haus last year in January as a response to increased loneliness and polarisation in our society, as well as vacancy in our inner city in Traben-Trarbach (the place where I currently live).
Das Blaue Haus is essentially an extended living room of sorts, intended as a “third space”, a term coined by American sociologist Ray Oldenburg which refers to a social setting outside of family and work life. I have organised a couple of meet-ups and events here, including creative/crafting “co-working” sessions, board game afternoons/nights, and more recently: karaoke!
Never could I have ever imagined that the enthusiasm for my project would build up so quickly! One thing led to another, and I was first interviewed for a radio broadcast last year in December. At this point in time, the focus was purely on Das Blaue Haus.
Then in March this year, I was interviewed by a newspaper in Trier. This is where the focus started to shift a little bit, still reporting on the community project, but with significant focus on my illustration, and in particular, my biography. I really, really did not see that one coming!
Then, seeming to build up on all of this, it all came to the TV interview, with my abbreviated life story and art taking centre stage. Das Blaue Haus is still mentioned, but it is a shorter part of the interview. You can watch the segment here, in German only, at minute 23:20:
If you’re on Instagram, you can watch a little snippet of this interview with English subs here.
Needless to say, I feel incredibly overwhelmed AND OVERCOME WITH GRATITUDE BY all of this.
My immediate instinct is to not take credit for any of this. Because: you know me! But seriously, none of this could have happened without a significant amount of luck and privilege. I try to have consideration for that, while not letting it discredit my ideas completely.
“Meeting places are extremely important for our democracy“
I feel so fortunate to be part of such a supportive and enthusiastic community, always there to lend a helping hand and spread the word. The people around me remind me that it’s ok to ask for help, and that it’s mostly much better to organise as a group. This is what community is all about!
I also feel… vindicated. And like the universe plays really weird tricks on you sometimes.
Because literally a week before I was asked to be on TV, I had a portfolio review where I was essentially told that my messaging wasn’t clear, that I seem “all over the place”.
And this, really, is what I have been told my entire illustration career. Strong sense of style, but “too free” and “not marketable enough”.
This song lol!! Is literally me! Emo pop punk kids of the early 00s rejoice 🤘🏼
The reviewers and experts I have consulted with have had the best intentions. Just doing their job, sharing what they know. And definitely, there is always room to improve!
But perhaps I have taken these words of advice too unsalted thus far. Maybe I CAN trust my point of view and direction a little more. Even if my path as an illustrator looks a little different than those of others.
Serendipity smacking me on the head.
I never planned for my art to merge so blatantly with social advocacy in real life. Sure, I always made it a point to stand for diversity and equality in my art work, but me doing voluntary work was just me doing voluntary work. A separate thing. One thing was not meant as a platform for the other, and vice versa.
Illustration and brochure Design for Das Blaue Haus © Kat J. Weiss 2026
Perhaps it was inevitable. I used my know-how as a designer and illustrator to create brochures and posters for my project. I centred events around creativity. I yearned for community in my pictures, and then started truly living in them.
Perhaps it was all meant to flow into each other eventually, an artistic purpose meeting a life goal.
Nostalgia sneaking up on my heart.
My upbringing and education is somewhat more eclectic than what most people (without migrant backgrounds) experience here in Germany. Third-culture kid stuff. It has been a big focus in these media pieces. What was growing up in Hong Kong like, studying in America, and then moving to a small town in Germany? Culture shock?
I cannot underscore enough how immensely fortunate I have been to be given and afforded such a colourful life. It seems weird to admit but I was embarrassed by it for a long time. I did not feel that I deserved it, and I did not want people thinking I wasn’t checking myself. I tried very much to focus on the present, and who I could become. As a result, I forgot about the many magical moments in my past: finding your “gang” during the first years of university, toughing through all-nighters together, moving abroad to another campus, finding your gang again.
An photo of me in a Hong Kong tram by one of my oldest friends, Marisa. We did a bunch of “artsy” film photo tours like this, pre-university days!
Attending a Bob-Ross-Paint-Along birthday party (where someone ends up scrawling “THERE IS NO GOD” over their landscape), going to many, many DIY, ramshackle thrown-together house gigs, listening to your friend sing the most beautiful song in a dark kitchen corner and it somehow filling up the entire room and touching you for life.
I could go on forever. The point is, being asked all these questions about my past has brought all of these memories back, memories I tried to tuck away but really should put up on an altar for all they have made me.
A side note on style, inspiration, and the nuance of identity
In the interview, there is a snippet of me describing my illustration style: that it has East Asian aspects to it, in it’s flatness, verticality, and crowded sceneries — compare with Thai mural paintings or Japanese woodblock printing for instance.
The reality is much more nuanced than that, but I don’t fault anyone for “misrepresenting” me, after all, it was merely a 2,5 minute long segment!
The entirety of what I “actually” said is as follows: that I see myself as an artist combining both East and West, which is how most of my upbringing was. I am very much inspired by detail-obsessed Art Nouveau/Jugendstil/Vienna Secession artists, who looked to Japanese woodblock printing for inspiration.
So in a way you could say I am closing the loop?
My watercolour paintings… East Asian inspired? Maybe.
© Kat J. Weiss 2026
To add to that, I spent many happy childhood afternoons drawing big crowded pictures at my friends’ house. We would draw funny characters, make jokes about our characters, sing songs about our characters. I feel so appreciative of how we were encouraged to live and collaborate creatively, from early on. I have no doubt that my tendency to draw crowded sceneries probably stems in part from those experiences.
What I’m trying to say is that influence and inspiration are complicated, and you can never just point to a single origin, even if in me you may see an “mixed-Asian” person and automatically think “Asian-influenced”.
Reality is much more complex than that! And I refuse to be put into one box.
I’m grateful for this moment of attention. I’ll ride this wave while I still can.
Who knows how long this will last? Or when DUN DUN DUN my big downfall will come? Look at me catastrophising already. I’m trying my best to stay humble, but can’t I just exist in this excitement for a bit?!
For what it’s worth, perhaps this will give me a moment to look back on, something to hold on to on a rainy day, for that bit of confidence and courage to continue making my art. When I need it.