De Toko explores the cultural role of Dutch Tokos and the stories they carry beyond the store. More than everyday groceries, these objects hold memories, traditions, and connections to family and community, becoming part of routines that sustain cultural identity across generations.
The project consists of two interconnected works: De Toko: Between Shelf and Street, a visual essay, and De Toko: While Stock Lasts, a spatial installation. Building on earlier research into the disappearance of Toko spaces, the project shifts its focus to the products themselves and asks what is at risk when these spaces and their systems begin to change. Through visual imagery, printed matter, and installation, it traces the journey of Toko products from shelf to home, revealing how ordinary objects become vessels of cultural memory.
Drawing from my own experience growing up around Toko culture, the project invites viewers to reconsider the significance of everyday objects and the quiet ways they preserve belonging, continuity, and cultural exchange.
