Sonja van Kerkhoff of Dutch, Irish, Scottish, Isle of Man and Cornish descent was born in Hawera, Taranaki, Aotearoa New Zealand in 1960.

She is a graduate of the Dunedin School of Art (1982), the Maastricht Institute of Arts (1993). Her MSc Masters thesis in Media Technology from the University of Leiden (2008) was on Issues of Engagement in Augmented Reality Installations. She was a multimedia designer for Dutch Educational Broadcasting (now NTR) from 1999-2009.

She is a contributor to Feminist Art Activisms and Artivisms (Amsterdam, 2020) edited by Katy Deepwell. She also curates exhibitions and writes art reviews. Since 2015 she has been based in Kawakawa, Aotearoa and in The Hague, The Netherlands.

Her conceptually driven works of art range from the interactive to performance to sculpture and printmaking. Her performances are often low-key interventions with the public focussed on process and mutability of meaning in playful ways.