‘I work with myths because they give shape to things we don’t fully understand,’ Michael Ho says as we stand in his east London studio. The space is filled with his latest paintings – vast canvases that will soon be presented at Art Basel Miami Beach with Gallery Vacancy. Ho often uses archival images as a foundation for his works: Dense jungle scenes take up the canvas surface, layered with motifs from his own experiences and mythological symbols from his Chinese heritage. These jade carvings, imperial seals, and burial suits serve as both anchors and questions, markers of a cultural identity that he grew up with but never felt was entirely his own.

‘I’m always working with fragments. Chinese culture, Western culture – they’re both part of me, but I don’t feel fully at home in either,’ he says. Ho speaks about his experience as being echoed in Vilém Flusser’s lecture ‘Taking Up Residence in Homelessness’ (1984–5), which encourages embracing rootlessness and seeing identity as fluid rather than fixed. ‘It’s strange to have a place you’re from, but not a place where you feel at home,’ he adds, reflecting on how his work has become his own place of belonging, a world he constructs to hold his transient sense of self.

Ho layers acrylic onto the reverse side of the linen canvas and, by pushing the paint through from behind, interacts with each piece from all angles, enabling him to engage with the work’s physicality. The final images emerge as if seen from the inside out, drawing viewers into a cultural heterotopia where memories and myths meld. In addition to painting, Ho also works with sculpture and film. In 2022, he presented the commissioned film Echoes from the Void at Nottingham Contemporary, a work that explores the echo chambers of modern conspiracy theories, set against the backdrop of a mythical cave.

But in Ho’s paintings, Chinese and Western symbols are removed from their fixed meanings and become part of dreamlike scenes that defy categorization. His approach transcends binary narratives, creating what he sees as a ‘third space’, in which tradition and personal experience merge and constantly shift. Symbols are transformed into mutable forms, inviting contemplation on our own stories of belonging, identity, and the complexity of cultural heritage.