Miko talks to us about how the vast forests and wide, empty roads of Suriname give rise to ghost stories, the reasons the ghosts in his paintings take classical Greek poses or animalistic positions, the fantasy of prosperity and whitewashing of historical paintings, how cultural signifiers in his paintings carry double meanings, and feeling alienated from art as a child. Plus, we ponder the prevalence of white clothing on ghosts and discuss the specific locations of ghosts in Indonesian folklore. To be enjoyed with a bowl of steaming hot saoto soup!

Miko Veldkamp is a Suriname-born Dutch-Indonesian painter based in NYC. Combining elements of his personal life with folklore and ancestral themes, his works range from surreal landscapes to pseudo self-portraits. His paintings offer brightly layered narratives on identity, memory, space, and the multiplicity of perspectives rooted in his fluid identity and cross-cultural experiences.

Miko has a BFA in video and sculpture from the Willem de Kooning Academie in Rotterdam and an MFA from Hunter College in New York. He was a resident at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam and was awarded the Hodder Fellowship of Princeton University. His work has been exhibited around the world in group and solo exhibitions in Seoul, London, and New York.