Holding The Roots
“Our world is not okay” is one of the sentences Sicovecas uses to describe his artwork. His piece, titled Peace In The Bottle, was completed two years ago, yet it still reflects the state of the world today.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues in Europe. In Yogyakarta, tensions between tribes have flared in recent weeks. One aspect of humanity that is challenging to remove is violence. There are many reasons to make peace, but people typically go to war. As a result, the need for peace will never go out of style.
Through his artwork, Sicovecas expresses his belief that, although not directly, skateboarding and art can both speak for peace. You don’t have to protest while carrying signs and peace symbols, but simply by doing things you love with your community, finding people who support you, and helping each other — peacefulness will spread around you.
The message of peace also serves as a reminder for himself. He reflected that you will discover happiness when you are at peace with what you are doing.
The collaboration between Sicovecas and VAST began on a sunny afternoon in late 2020 when Sicovecas was skateboarding at VAST Skatepark. A friend told him that VAST was about to release a board.
Instead of releasing boards with uninteresting, meaningless designs, the idea to collaborate between VAST and local artists was sparked in discussion. VAST offered Sicovecas the opportunity to collaborate. Sicovecas welcomed the project enthusiastically.
“As a skateboarder, it was an honor for me to be able to display my artwork on the board,” he said.
His artwork consists of four compositions beginning with a “bottle”, “hand”, “symbol of peace”, and “growing stalks”, which all have a continuous meaning in connection with one another.
In his artwork, the bottle represents a space for growth. The hand is in charge of taking care of and fertilizing the stalks, while the symbol of peace is the main message Sicovecas wants to convey.
Perhaps the significance of Sicovecas’ artwork could be summed up in the following sentence: “This is a vessel where peace arises and grows. There is a hand that is responsible for keeping it growing and that hand is each one of us.”
Or, if readers have their own understanding, forget the description above. Sicovecas will be pleased to let all of us freely interpret his work.
Holding The Roots — the exhibition’s theme, explores the connection between growth, community, and skateboarding as well as world peace.
The results of the collaboration will be exhibited on July 20, 2022 at Sicovecas’ home, Studiovecas. In general, he prefers to use his house as an exhibition space because it serves as his home base, sanctuary, and location to create and discover himself.
*First Published in Holding The Roots, a Photo Zine. Tap to watch the video.
