The 2020 SALA Festival opens this weekend, with more than 5500 South Australian artists showing work in 500 exhibitions in venues across the state and online. Here are six highlights.

Words Suzie Keen

A Road Less Travelled

Fifteen large steel sculptures by Greg Johns are on show on the lawns of d’Arenberg Winery at McLaren Vale. A Road Less Travelled is described as the largest ever exhibition by the Adelaide sculptor, whose organic and earthy forms are on display in public spaces throughout Australia and Europe. In a separate SALA event on August 15, Johns will present an exploration and discussion of 45 sculptures installed in the landscape at Palmer.
d’Arenberg Winery, 58 Osborn Road, McLaren Vale, August 1-31

 

KI: A Curious Time

This exhibition at Fine Art Kangaroo Island sees 16 established and emerging artists presenting recent work inspired by the extreme events of this year – from bushfires to the pandemic. KI: A Curious Time is being presented as both a physical and online exhibition, with art including painting, photography, sculpture, textiles, art jewellery and more.
Fine Art Kangaroo Island, 91 Dauncey Street, Kangaroo Island, August 9-31

 

Undisclosed

Pierre Mukeba exhibited a large and colourful two-part tableau as part of this year’s 2020 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Monster Theatres at the Art Gallery of SA. Now, during SALA, the young artist and winner of the People’s Choice award in the 2019 Ramsay Art Prize presents a series of new works at GAGPROJECTS (formerly Greenaway Art Gallery) which were created during the pandemic lockdown. Undisclosed features acrylic and brush pen works on rice paper that portray scenes of violence and injustice in his former homeland of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
GAGPROJECTS, 39 Rundle Street, Kent Town, August 3-28   

 

100 Barossa Artists – Making the invisible visible

This project seeks to capture the importance of visual arts in the Barossa Valley, with more than 100 local artists creating self-portraits through a range of media including drawing, moving image, painting, photography, textiles, print-making and video. In addition, 300 children were also invited to take part as “Barossa Future Artists”. While 100 Barossa Artists is at She is Pop Up Gallery in Nuriootpa, the entire exhibition will also be projected as an outdoor display every night during August on the Barossa Regional Gallery in Tanunda.
She Is Pop Up Gallery, 15 Murray Street, Nuriootpa, August 1-30

 

Watarkurinytja Wiya – Don’t Forget

A powerful body of new work created following the COVID-19 shutdown is on display at the APY Gallery. Watarkurinytja Wiya – Don’t Forget features works by early-career artists from the APY Lands working out of the Adelaide-based studio. Their paintings share and celebrate Tjukurpa (Dreaming stories) passed down through generations. Paintings, baskets, jewellery and other items by female APY Lands artists are also on display in the Minyma Mayatia (Boss Ladies) SALA exhibition in the Queens Room at Sparkke at the Whitmore.
APY Gallery, 9 Light Square, Adelaide, July 30 – September 6
Sparkke at the Whitmore, 317 Morphett Street, August 1-31

 

Duologue

There’s a sense of whimsy in many of the works in Adelaide Hills photographer Ed Douglas’s Duologue exhibition at the Hahndorf Academy. “In this series of ‘imaginings’ I am investigating the relationship between two figurative elements in a stage-like space,” he says.  “With this simple environment I want to convey an affinity between the two objects, however strange their relationship may be.” Hahndorf Academy is also presenting Full Circle 1.0, a SALA exhibition of new drawings by Wendy Dixon-Whiley. Both artists will present talks at an event on August 9.
Hahndorf Academy, 68 Main Road, Hahndorf, July 31 – September 30

 

The full SALA program is available online.

See the August issue of SALIFE magazine, out on August 6, for more SALA exhibition recommendations.