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!

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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.

www.mikoveldkamp.com

Nasrikah and Okui Lala talk to us about their collaboration project, Rasa and Asa, a short film, shot during the height of pandemic via online video platform, capturing the activities and daily meetings of the PERTIMIG members.

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Okui Lala (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) is an artist and cultural worker. Her practice spans from video and performance to community engagement. Okui’s work explores themes of identities, diaspora and belonging through the performances of domestic acts or vocational labor. She also facilitates visual workshops with nonprofit organizations and social groups that work with various communities. Past presentations include Seoul Mediacity Biennale (2023), Singapore Biennale (2019), Festival/ Tokyo (Japan, 2019), Para Site (Hong Kong, 2018) and National Art Gallery (Malaysia, 2017).

Nasrikah is an Indonesian migrant worker who has been living in Malaysia since 1997. She is the founding member and coordinator for PERTIMIG Malaysia (Indonesian Migrant Domestic Workers Association). Her advocacy focused on campaigning for migrant domestic workers to be treated with the same respect, status and access to justice as workers. Nasrikah is also a poet and coordinator for arts and cultural events.

PERTIMIG is an independent organization fighting for the rights of migrant domestic workers. PERTIMIG’s vision is to advocate for decent work and welfare for the domestic workers and their families in Malaysia. At this moment, PERTIMIG has more than 200 members and is an affiliate of International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF).

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34_S8CT7FbQ

Tao talks to us about urban geography and morphology in Southeast Asia. We discuss historic preservation and patterns of heritage-making in Southeast Asia, touristification, image-making and nationalist architecture, the evolution of neighborhoods and their communities as cities get reinvented, and whether Chinatowns in Southeast Asia are "disappearing and dying" as they are in Western countries. To be enjoyed with extra spicy Indonesian food or super sour Thai food with lots & lots of lime!

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Napong Tao Rugkhapan is a geographer of urban planning interested in the geographic implications of planning intervention. In particular, he focuses on the technopolitics of urban design and planning, which he defines as the political contestations over knowledge-laden, spatial instruments – maps, zoning, building codes, architectural guidelines. The goal of is work is to expose their ideological, political underpinnings that legitimate planning intervention. Tao's other research interests include comparative urban theory; cross-context circulation of planning ideas; gentrification and inner-city revitalization; and urban architectural heritage, specifically in historic cities in urban Southeast Asia.

NTRS