I was born on September 11, 1996, in Enschede, the Netherlands. I previously went by the name Matthijs Jeuring, but I recently chose to honor my late grandfather, William de Hoog.

As his first grandson, it is important to me to carry his name as far as I can. My grandfather, an Indo-Dutchman, arrived in the Netherlands at fifteen, traveling by boat with his brother. No parents. No certainty about the future. As a half-Dutch immigrant, he built our family from the ground up, and in doing so, made my life possible.

I see and feel the hereditary aspect of my own character as an Indo (Dutch-Indonesian). It is expressed as an underlying current of anxiety, dread and a sense of oppression. I could say that Indo people are characterised as silent, melancholic and probably troubled by our generational trauma, but also very family oriented and loving. There is not as much of a grudge towards the past as it could have been. Personally, it still gives me a natural distrust towards people and systems. Something that I am well aware of and try to fight.

This brings me to why art is so important to me. What does it take to sing? Other than skill or feeling, it is about taking up space. It is about standing firm and making your voice heard. Through my work, I seek to reclaim the personal freedom my forefathers lost. My work has never been about merely reflecting on past suffering, societal struggles, or injustice. That approach, to me, is looking from the outside in. We inherit these burdens before we even touch them. The real question is: where do they take root within us? Where do they become parts of ourselves that cause harm? By confronting this personal darkness, this selfishness or internalized oppression, we start to see it. And once the personal is known, it could free us by offering a choice.

This fascination with the morbid, the outcasts, the unseen and unheard stems from a desire to understand that which is ultimately unwhole. Like those who become Golems, shaped by revenge, sadness, or envy. Or people with the impulse to self-destruct, framed as personal empowerment to beat crippling addictions. The hidden truth in the esoteric, religion, grifters, quacks, prostitutes and johns, submissive men and dominant women, the depraved and the selfless, angels and demons, conspiracy culture, systems of power, metaphysics and epistemology. It’s a good thing I’m not looking for answers, so I may stumble upon them by chance.