billboard commission #5

Loka Roberts: How are you? 

Pencil and watercolour on paper

Loka Roberts, age 10, has made a drawing based on the image of a tree leaf for this year's billboard commission at Spit and Sawdust. She wanted to make an image about growth and a drawing for the billboard, representing the journey that Spit and Sawdust have made in the past ten years. 

The veins of the leaf have been replaced with a road dividing up the compartments of the leaf surface. In between the leaf compartments are images arranged that connect with one another’s meaning. 

The road references Spit and Sawdust’s journey over the last 10 years to the end of the leaf, where images and symbols of a celebration are depicted.

At the base of the leaf shape, there is a colourful rainbow of wavy shapes containing the first letters of the words: hope, joy, peace, love, respect, and kindness. 

A small section shows long grassy flowers, referring to gentleness and friendship. 

Loka says that she wanted to picture our planet amongst the other planets in our galaxy to represent how diverse our planet is amongst the other planets and to represent our diversity as people on the planet.

The large red roses depict growth, and the landscape with the sun rising is about our connection to nature. 

If we want to, we can delve a little deeper, knowing that there is the added notion that artists have focused on the symbolism of trees not only for political and environmental causes but also for their colour, wildness, and beauty. The subject of trees has also been something on which an artist can hang ideas of time passing and hope for the future.

The shape of the leaf resembles the leaf of an oak tree, and an oak tree represents strength, stability, and endurance, while the acorn of an oak tree represents renewal and the promise of new beginnings.