RRI.CO.ID, Yogyakarta - At the T-junction of Jl. Sultan Agung, Yogyakarta, near the former Permata Cinema, an 8x3 meter billboard displays an unusual image.

Instead of advertising, it shows a long-haired boy in football gear holding a yellow soccer ball. His eyes convey silent protest, underscored by the red words: “I just want to play… (why do you bully me?).”

The black-and-white stencil work, titled Sayangi Teman (Love Your Friend), is by Digie Sigit, a Yogyakarta street artist whose works have appeared in Vienna and Innsbruck.

The exhibition opened on May 25, 2026, led by songwriter Banditoz Yauw 86, and runs until July 9. For the first time, an artwork is displayed on a public billboard rather than inside a gallery, confronting every passerby at the traffic light.

Sigit drew inspiration from a neighborhood child bullied while playing football. He stressed that children need not only nutrition but also safe environments free from discrimination, racism, and fascism.

“Discrimination, racism, and fascism will only create a generation without empathy,” he said.

The artist also warned that shrinking public spaces, overtaken by capital, pressure residents and foster violence that children then imitate. “The root of discrimination, racism, and fascism is bullying. Victims often repeat the behavior,” he explained.

Bullying has become a serious issue in Indonesia. The Child Protection Commission (KPAI) recorded rising cases: 91 in 2020, 142 in 2021, 194 in 2022, 285 in 2023, and 572 in 2024.

In Yogyakarta alone, the Yogyakarta Provincial Women’s Empowerment, Child Protection, and Population Control Agency (DP3AP) noted 101 child violence cases in 2024, and 237 in the first half of 2025.

At the opening of Sayangi Temen exhibition, DP3AP head Erlina Hidayati Sumardi praised Sigit’s work, noting the difficulty of helping child victims fully recover. There a is possibility that recovery may not be complete, she said.

Visual communication expert Donna Carollina of Binus University, Malang, noted that Sigit deliberately chose a billboard to move art from elitist galleries into egalitarian public space.

“Sayangi Teman becomes an open court where every motorist and pedestrian is forced to confront children’s reality today,” she wrote in her curatorial text.

Sigit hopes his work inspires small acts to end bullying. “My work is a prayer. I hope children, humanity’s greatest asset, will no longer suffer bullying,” he said. ***