SALA Festival reveals the isolation creations of state’s living artists
The impact of COVID-19 and social distancing inspired many works in this month’s South Australian Living Artists Festival and has even changed the shape of the event itself.
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Like many of the artworks it contains, this year’s SALA Festival has continually morphed and been moulded into shape as a reflection of the ever-changing environment which surrounds it.
COVID-19 social distancing initially meant that the South Australian Living Artists program – which in past years spanned more than 700 events at venues across the state, from galleries and cafes to foyers and florists – had to be reconceived as a series of online exhibitions.
However, recent easing of restrictions in SA means that physical venues are once again able to be part of the mix.
So this year’s program will now allow artists to add new shows and work right up until the final day of the month-long festival on August 31.
The pandemic, self-isolation, social distancing and other natural disasters have also influenced artists and their subject matter in many of this year’s SALA exhibitions, as they seek out new ways to connect with viewers.
Full program and app online at salafestival.com
SHARI RUSSELL
Shari’s Imaginary Friends
Venue: on Facebook or instagram.com/sr_artwork/
During lockdown we all felt a little trapped at times. While on Instagram, I was invited by another sculptor to join her in creating #30newbestfriends.
I was inspired to see so much beauty created during such a bleak time. The people and creatures I created came from my mind’s playground. They helped.
Home Sweet Prison (left) was inspired by the trapped feeling I felt during lockdown. I love my house, but I got really sick of it after a few months of not going out.
During lockdown, I definitely escaped by watching television. But like too much sugar and alcohol, even too much TV can become a bad thing. That work (featured in the gallery above) is called Netflix Overdose.
This blue butterfly (see gallery) has “Free” stamped on her abdomen. She could be hung on a wall or poked into a pot of flowers. A friend told me she looked like the singer Pink. I like that.
At the beginning of the lockdown, many people shopped like everything would disappear – so of course, it did. I call this (see gallery) Ms TP Hog. I remember going to the store week after week and the toilet paper aisle was totally empty.
MELINDA RACKHAM
#remakemistress
Venue: #remakemistresses on Instagram or
subtle.net/remakemistresses
With the shutdown of the arts industry in Australia and internationally, museums such as our National Gallery asked the public to engage in a centuries old pastime of recreating their famous paintings – old masters – in tableau vivants. Why not remake contemporary Australian mistresses instead, I thought.
#remakemistresses is a “femmage” recreating artworks by Australian contemporary women artists using parody and irony, not in a derogatory way, but playfully and critically.
Being exhibited on social media reveals the importance of supportive and inspirational, creative and personal networks and communities in which artists work.
Each remake stands on its own, and encourages viewers to (re)discover the artist and their original work. #remakemistresses responds directly to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shot on an iPad using only materials in my self-isolation house, the playful images grew a following and post-lockdown will continue until December. During August two new SA women artists remakes will be added each week.
SALVADOR LORETO
2020 The Year That Was
Venue: Online gallery link at salafestival.com
Bushfires! Droughts! COVID-19 pandemic! 2020 has been a disastrous and challenging year, Loreto says.
A Spanish-born gypsy from Algeciras, former bullfighter and flamenco singer, Loreto arrived in Australia in 1966 to escape Franco’s regime of discrimination, and is best known for his portrait of the late former premier Don Dunstan.
Never one to be categorised by others or forced to comply with one particular style, Loreto says his individualism stands out in this new collection. His work has been described as a mix between Goya and Dali, with “that touch of surrealism that all good Spanish artists are known for”.
Some of these paintings refer to the COVID-19 virus and are a provocative commentary on the Chinese government, its handling of the crisis, our dependence on China and enforced isolation.
“Death is ‘The Intruder’ in our lives, which will never be the same,” Loreto says about his painting of the same title.
“We paid the price for our dependence on ‘Made in China’ products when we imported the virus and were left short of essential goods.”
It is not racist, Loreto says, as the Chinese people are considered casualties of this virus, as is the rest of the world. Other paintings refer to gender issues, drought and destruction of species.
SONYA UNWIN
Unpopulated Spaces
Venue: Lyell McEwin Hospital
Presented by the Centre for Creative Health (CCH), this exhibition is a direct response to what lies beyond the frontline pandemic; tranquillity, restrained energy and the beauty in abandoned places.
CCH aims to improve the quality and experience of healthcare by developing and enhancing the creative, healing environments across the Central Adelaide Local Heath Network and Northern Adelaide Local Health Network.
Unwin’s practice involves research into the liminal space of the horizon, relying heavily on the emotional value of colour within the landscape. As a natural expressionist, drawn to watery horizons, her paintings often have an abstract quality.
As in life, our ambitions and purpose are often out beyond psychological reach, and this is the space her art practice explores on a philosophical level.
“I felt the uncontrollable creative beast in me, responding immediately to the global pandemic,” Unwin says.
“Whilst tranquillity was my experience, first responders were facing an opposing situation to the pandemic. This exhibition is an opportunity to experience the beauty that was outside the orderly frontline chaos.”
DEBORAH BALDASSI
Revelation
Venue: Backyard Studio, 1 Linden Crescent, Linden Park
Having witnessed bushfires and a global pandemic, my work has turned to what has been revealed about who we are and what we could be.
We have seen the best and worst of Australia and the world in their response to crises. We have been alternatively horrified and inspired by our leaders.
The fragility of the systems that support our lives has been underlined but we have also had tantalising glimpses of a better world. A world where the pollution dissipates and we can see the Himalayas, where the vacuity and virtue signalling of social media gives way to what has been called the “kindness pandemic”.
A world where we all eagerly discuss graphs, science and evidence. We have witnessed the unfolding of a Revelation. Some artworks will be displayed on our fence and can be viewed from the street. Within the premises numbers can be limited to the designated number (currently 20) as follows: Two people will be allowed in the studio itself to view paintings at any time.
Artworks in the studio can also be viewed through the glass front of the building.
The total number of visitors in the yard will be regulated by attendants at the gate.
RICHARD JOHN
Stiller Life
Venue: The Joinery at Factory 9, Port Elliot or @richardjohnart on Instagram
That theme of a simpler life has been a constant thing with me over the years. We moved to Victor Harbor about 10 years ago, and then to Port Elliot five years later.
The biggest thing there is the simplicity and the slowing down of things – it’s so much easier to isolate down here.
The response to the COVID stuff was interesting. I wasn’t able to get down to the studio, so I started offering small commissions to people, through social media. People would send me in these beautiful photos.
For this exhibition, I’ve probably done more landscapes than previously, of deserted dirt roads and other things in country SA, Yorke Peninsula and down here.
I’ve got a dog and she spends a lot of time with me at the studio – I’ve been doing a lot of dog commissions for people lately. I think pets have become extremely important to people during this time, perhaps more so than ever.
That time for quieter contemplation has been forced on us. I’ve done a number of still life paintings for this show, as well as the landscapes and seascapes, and I certainly wanted to play on that idea that – despite everything that’s going on – there’s still life.
SHANNON MURDEY-GREEN
Behind The Glass
Venue: Facebook or behindtheglass-smgp.myportfolio.com
I usually do portraiture style and 95 per cent of my work is black-and-white. I’m a studio photographer, but with COVID, I had to shut the studio down and find a different way of shooting.
So I went on location and had to change my style. I still wanted to do portraiture, so that’s why I went into Behind the Glass, because of the obvious barrier – for social distancing – and it gives me a creative viewpoint to shoot through, because I love the reflections.
Also, it just got me to meet more people in my community, which was one of the things I wanted to do personally.
I’m usually very close up, very detailed – I shoot the face as a landscape. I’ve had to pull back, use different lenses, completely change the way I shoot. I wanted to have a photo-documentary style. In some of the images I added extra grain, just to get that nice texture.
I’ve got a few more shoots where I want to capture people connected to COVID in some way – through health or politics or education – and once I’ve done that, then I’m going to hopefully publish a book.
I want to give back to those who participated by creating a book that families could keep and pass down to future generations, or gift to friends so they too have a visual representation of what happened in this historic time.
MIXED GROUP
Stitch & Resist
Venue: Centre of Democracy/History Trust of SA. Online at stitchandresist.com
Launched in March 2020, Stitch & Resist was originally designed to encourage community groups and organisations to host craftivism workshops that would address specific issues.
However, in response to the coronavirus pandemic we decided to reimagine the project and broaden its goals.
For us at the Centre of Democracy, the disruptions to daily civic life caused by the global outbreak of COVID-19 raise an important question: How can we continue to resist injustice, engage in the everyday practice of democracy, and take care of our wellbeing in the midst of a pandemic?
Centred around the beginner-friendly medium of cross-stitching, this project provides individual change-makers, community groups and organisations with the digital tools and resources necessary to create textile art that addresses the ideas, hopes and concerns of its makers.
These hand-stitched works create a digital gallery that documents the issues and concerns of the time in which we now find ourselves.
Once the pandemic is over, the Centre of Democracy will curate a public exhibition in Adelaide that showcases a selection of the work created as part of the project.
Full program and app online at salafestival.com