Don't get me wrong, I do like Faye as a name, I never felt dissatisfied by it. But when I was a kid, my sister came up with a lot of nicknames, like Eugene, Franaxel, Koos Alberts, Foloon, Poshnando, even Ko-ouderschap (which is the Dutch meaning for split parenthood, really, don't ask), Nantje, Jeanine, Agata, you name it. 

Due to these colorful figments of my sisters imagination, my family never called/calls me Faye. So one day I (Poshnando/Eugene/Franaxel/whatever) was doing a painting in my room when my dad entered, ''Foki, kom de eten?'' (which is dutch for dinner's ready).

Foki, for the first time a name I actually liked. 

Five years later I attended the art academy (Willem de Kooning Academy) in Rotterdam. When I moved to Rotterdam I would visit my parents every weekend. One of the most joyous things about those weekend visits was people calling me Foki again, it reminds me of home. 

That's why this small-town girl decided to publish her visual work under the pseudonym Foki, to create a new feeling of home in a somewhat bigger city like Rotterdam.

I also made a fun video about this, click on the small-town girl below.