Mount Penanggungan, in Mojokerto, East Java, is the keeper of ancient secrets. It lies forty kilometres southwest of Surabaya. It has been recognised as the sacred mountain Pawitra since the 10thcentury, and the spiritual heartland of the 13th-16th-century Majapahit empire. Indonesia’s last Indianized maritime kingdom, based in East Java, the empire encompassed almost the entire Indonesian archipelago and parts of Southeast Asia.
Distinguished by sacred shrines, temples, hermitages, caves, and bathing pools dating from the 10th to 16th centuries, Mount Penanggungan was designated a Cultural Heritage Site in 2015. In 2024, recent discoveries revealed nearly 1,000 archaeological sites in this culturally, historically, and environmentally significant region.
At 1,653 meters above sea level, the rugged landscape adds to the mountain’s dramatic, picturesque allure. At dawn, nature enthusiasts greet the sunrise, looking east upon the iconic volcanic East Java skyline. Despite the risks to amateur climbers, the mountain has become a popular hiking tourism destination. Surrounded by dense urban areas, industrial zones, and factories, sand mining continues to erode the mountain’s foundations. The escalation of hazardous mass climbing, indiscriminate waste disposal, ethical degradation, damage from industrial and mining expansion, and dangers to cultural and environmental preservation now pose enormous threats to Mount Penanggungan.
‘Ring of Pawitra’ 2026 Installation by Syska La Veggie & Sekolah Alam Penanggungan, Penanggungan Nature School (SALAMAN) Image Richard Horstman
‘Ring of Pawitra, 2026’, a collaborative, immersive installation featuring a mural, artworks on paper, archives, a tent installation, natural materials, sound, and video by East Javanese contemporary artist/activist Syska La Veggie and Sekolah Alam Penanggungan, Penanggungan Nature School (SALAMAN), is one of the fascinating educational artworks on display from 19 June at ARTJOG 2026 ARS LONGA: GENERATIO, running through to 30 August at Jogja National Museum (JNM) in Yogyakarta.
The artwork has three distinct aspects: ‘Samudramanthana: Ring of Pawitra’, a large-scale colourful mural; a display of artworks on paper by SALAMAN participants and children; and the focal-point, a tent installation that invites JNM visitors to relax in camp chairs and ponder two pictorial features. The tent’s lining, inside and out, features colonial-era photographs alongside present-day documentation of archaeological sites in the region, as well as a 31-minute art performance video projected onto the JNM wall.
Mount Penanggungan East Java Circa 1910; Leiden University Libraries, the Netherlands. KITLV 15098
“Ring of Pawitra re-examines Mount Penanggungan as a landscape whose meanings continue to shift and be contested,” Syska LaVeggie told NOW!Jakarta Magazine. “I do not wish to present Penanggungan as a frozen relic of the past or merely a natural tourism destination. Instead, I see it as a living space where history, mythology, spirituality, industry, hiking culture, and the experiences of local communities intersect.”
An activist, environmental and hiking enthusiast, Syska La Veggie, also known as Syska Liana, began trekking in the region with the local community more than twenty years ago. Her contemporary visual art practice, based in nearby Mojokerto, includes painting, drawing, poetry, printmaking, embroidery, video, and performance, addressing gender equality, community, and environmental concerns.
Studies on paper of sacred site on Mount Penanggungan by Syska La Veggie and Sekolah Alam Penanggungan, Penanggungan Nature School (SALAMAN) Image Richard Horstman
In 2024, Syska and others founded SALAMAN, an open learning platform focused on environmental education, local history, art, and outdoor learning. “We aim to foster an ecologically and culturally conscious generation,” said Syska, a Graduate of the College of Communication Studies, Surabaya, majoring in Broadcasting. SALAMAN’s activities include night trekking, hiking, trail clearing, camping, collaboration with local communities, and flora and fauna inventory, to deepen understanding of the region’s ecological and cultural significance.
SALAMAN’s volunteers include children, school and university students, hikers, artists, researchers, creative workers, site caretakers, hiking trail managers, and local residents of varying ages, professions, experiences, and perspectives. “This diversity is one of SALAMAN’s greatest strengths in fostering environmental awareness and local historical understanding through participatory learning, while encouraging the collective preservation of nature and cultural heritage,” Syska said.
Installation View Syska La Veggie & Sekolah Alam Penanggungan. Image ArtJog 2026
“One of the main challengesis sustaining SALAMAN’s programs and the involvement of participants who come from different backgrounds and have different commitments. We also face limitations in funding, facilities, and operational support needed to run activities regularly. Another challenge is raising broader awareness of Mount Penanggungan as both a cultural and ecological landscape. Many people know Penanggungan as a hiking destination, but are less familiar with its rich history, archaeological heritage, local knowledge, and the environmental issues affecting the area.”
‘Samudramanthana: Ring of Pawitra’ depicts the Hindu God Brahma in the form of a cosmic serpent, its body coiled around a rocky mountain, sitting atop of Vishnu as a cosmic turtle. The mountain symbolizes the summit of Mt. Mahameru, relocated from Jambudvipa (India) to Javadvipa (Java). It draws from two interconnected narratives, one from the Indian Mahabharata scriptures, the other from the Old Javanese text Tantu Panggelaran.
Exhibition View -Syska La Veggie & Sekolah Alam Penanggungan. Photograph by AREX99
“For the ancient Javanese, this story is not merely a creation myth but a way of understanding the relationship between the cosmos, mountains, and human life,” Syska explained.
“A work in progress that can evolve via future research, journeys, and new readings of the landscape, the video ‘Ring of Pawitra’ documents my performance based on the concept of prasawiya. A counter-clockwise movement around the sacred mountain becomes a metaphor for the shifting orientation of contemporary society within a landscape shaped by acceleration, resource extraction, industrial development, mass tourism, and ecological crisis.”
Throughout the journey, Syska wears a kebaya, hiking trousers, a backpack, a respirator and a safety helmet. “My body becomes a site where multiple identities intersect: tradition and modernity, femininity and fieldwork, spirituality and industry.” While trekking Syska recites an ancient Javanese phrase. “It’s presented not as a religious chant, but as an archival echo moving through different contexts. The text remains the same, while the landscape in which it is spoken has profoundly changed.”
Exhibition View – Syska La Veggie & Sekolah Alam Penanggungan. Photograph by AREX
What makes Mount Penanggungan intriguing and rare is that it is surrounded by eight smaller peaks that form a cultural and cosmological landscape, interpreted as a mandala, which adds to the region’s mysterious significance. The region is one of Indonesia’s most important archaeological landscapes, due to the sheer concentration of sacred sites within a relatively small area. The ongoing revelation of antiquated sacred sites throughout Java, including the controversial findings at Gunung Padang near Cianjur, West Java, carbon-dated to 20,000 years ago, highlights Java’s ancient significance while posing questions that modern academia, including archaeology, fails to adequately address.
‘Ring of Pawitra’ is one of the most noteble works at ARTJOG 2026 ARS LONGA: GENERATIO, stimulating curiosity and inviting reflection on the cultural and ecological significance of Mount Penanggungan. Such contemplation has the potential to encourage activism and awareness of similar issues threatening Indonesia’s internationally renowned, rich, and unique cultural heritage and natural environment.
“My participation in ARTJOG 2026 is an opportunity to bring the story of Mount Penanggungan to a broader public audience. I prove that knowledge about a landscape does not emerge solely from academic research, but also from the experiences of local residents, children, hikers, site caretakers, artists, and Sekolah Alam Penanggungan,” Syska said.
Exhibition View – Syska La Veggie & Sekolah Alam Penanggungan. Photograph by AREX
“I hope this work can foster new conversations about the preservation of cultural and ecological landscapes while showing how art can become a meeting point between archives, bodies, knowledge, and the environment. For me, Penanggungan is not simply a legacy of the past, but a living landscape that continues to be used, cared for, interpreted, and negotiated in the present day.”
“Ring of Pawitra, 2026” on display at
ARTJOG 2026 ARS LONGA: GENERATIO
19 June – 30 August 2026
Jogja National Museum (JNM)
Soboman no. 234 RT 06 DK.X,
Ngestiharjo, Kasihan, Bantul, DIY, Indonesia
IG: @artjog.id
@syskalaveggie
@ sekolahalampenanggungan
Words: Richard Horstman
Images courtesy: ArtJog & Richard Horstman
life as art asia 