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ROSH ABEYSEKERA (RA)
Who has had the biggest influence on your journey as an artist, and what did they teach you?
I won’t name-drop but there are a couple of teachers / educational influences that encouraged or allowed me the space to feel comfortable as a young and wayward wanna-be creative with a keen interest in graffiti-related culture. I didn’t gel with academia but the tribal call-and-response conversation of leaving marks in public spaces, whether weird faces or eccentric letterforms, was something I dragged into any environment I could, often in secret. Having influential beings in formal settings allow and even assist this private passion is literally what has allowed me to be here, now, indulging publicly in that very same obsession.
How did you first discover street art, and can you remember the moment you knew it was something you wanted to pursue?
According to my folks, I had a knack as a kid of finding any marker even in the best hiding places and stash points. None of our furniture was safe from my nonsensical scribbles. I drew a lot, we got the train a lot; and I was constantly on the lookout for these chrome and colourful hints of humanity whizzing past the carriage windows, or lying directly on them. To me, street art is the natural descendant of a movement derived from struggle, from divide, and speaks to an innate millennia-old yearning to tell a story and share your spirit. Now, as a (supposed) adult, I still play hip-hop while observing the free art gifted to the city. It’s the essence. Its soul.
What makes the street art community different from any other creative community you've experienced?
Most other creative communities I’ve known tend to exist within a set of pre-defined rules. If you consider graphic design, fine art, photography, there are usually ‘accepted’ ways to perform within the boundaries of these disciplines – and many of the more standardised art forms are naturally inhabited by critics, or managed by studios and galleries that carry industry weight. Street art and graffiti to a large extent, is freedom.
What has to come together for you to create your best work - whether it's a place, a feeling, the people around you, or something else?
It’s an ongoing thing. If by nature, you’re creatively minded, you have a good basis to seek situations that nurture progressive outcomes for you as an individual – and hopefully, your ‘scene’ as a whole (perhaps subconsciously). Leake Street has played an invaluable part in my growth as a rattle-can enthusiast; I started off going there on solo trips, then met some of my most favourite people, and now I consider myself comfortable and grounded enough to create pretty much anywhere, at any given time.
What's a piece you've created that means more to you than anyone else might realise?
I’ve become quite ‘known’ through my depictions of a bird-headed feminine entity known as ‘Cleo’. I’d like to think I’m quite candid in the sense that my emotions and feelings will not only permeate into the art I make, but I’m more than happy to explain my processes and mind state at any given time. I make no bones about this – places like Leake Street, outlets like graffiti and street art, rescued me. Saved my life. Continues to heal me. Cleo started it, and now I enjoy working with a whole series of themes and schemes and visions. Forever grateful for the journey, and very excited for the next leg.
What do you hope people feel when they stand in front of your work?
My output is honestly for me. It’s not for me to necessarily encourage people to feel any type of way (obviously, I’d hope they don’t hate it!), but at its core its catharsis and making sense of myself and my world. I will say, though, I have been sent some incredibly powerful messages, and had some insanely grounding conversations with viewers that have felt something deep. Some found safety, others got inspired. It’s all a win if people pay any attention at all, amongst the adverts and general noise of the world.
If you could leave one message on a wall for the world to see, what would it say?
Self-confessed new-age hippie-type here, so I’d suggest knowledge of self. We all improve if we’ve all improved ourselves, and I genuinely wholeheartedly believe that self-initiated creativity in any form is a ‘cheat-code’ to gain an understanding of you as a being, as a spirit, as a free agent. Playing music, drawing, writing, whatever. Find what makes you fizz, and get off those screens!