For one month each year, South Australia turns itself into one enormous gallery. The South Australian Living Artists Festival, SALA, fills hundreds of venues across the state with the work of local artists, and not just in galleries. You’ll find it in wineries, cafes, libraries, gardens and the artists’ own studios, much of it free, with the creators often on hand and happy to talk about what they’ve made.
That openness is the point. SALA is a month-long invitation to wander, stumble onto something and follow your curiosity. The trick is not to attempt all of it. Pick a few things that pull at you, leave room to be surprised, and let the rest go.
A sensible place to begin is the festival’s feature artist. Troy-Anthony Baylis, a painter, textile and performance artist of Jawoyn and Irish descent, brings ‘Pile-Up’ to Adelaide Central Gallery at Glenside, gathering signature works from across his career alongside the South Australian premiere of two major new bodies of work. If you’d like to hear him think aloud about it, he gives a talk on his practice at the Art Gallery of South Australia on 11 August.
For something that will stay with you, Ida Sophia’s ‘Patience and Penitentia’ at the Samstag Museum is among the most ambitious works in this year’s program. It examines the silent treatment, the cold cruelty of being shut out, through a 40-day durational performance, the artist’s longest to date. The wearable chains at its centre are made from tens of thousands of rose petals, donated from the home gardens of Adelaide women. It is unsettling and oddly tender at once.
If watching an artist at work appeals, the Art Academy in the Adelaide Hills hosts a free two-hour demonstration by the renowned hyperrealist Robin Eley, who builds a monochromatic portrait in oils with every brushstroke shown in close-up on a 100-inch screen. Seats are strictly limited, so book ahead.
And for a show that speaks to the moment, photographer Thomas Ling’s ‘Reprise’ at Hither & Yon in Willunga responds to the algal bloom that has devastated the state’s coast, framing the ocean as a shared space and a fragile one. It follows his well-received 2025 SALA series.
The simplest way to find what’s near you is the free SALA app, which searches the whole program by suburb, artist or medium, or open the map and see what’s on down the road. If you’d rather meet artists where the work actually happens, the Open Studios Weekend on 15 and 16 August opens private studios across the state. And for a day with none of the logistics, SALA runs four bus tours through the Barossa, the Adelaide Hills, the Mount Lofty Ranges and the South Coast, each taking in several exhibitions with morning tea and lunch at a feature venue.
Then simply go. The best thing you see this August will probably be one you never planned on.
SALA runs right through August. Browse the full program and plan your month at salafestival.com
SALA 2026 — the details
‘Pile-Up’ – Troy-Anthony Baylis. Adelaide Central Gallery, Glenside. 29 July–4 September, Mon–Fri 9am–5pm. Artist talk, AGSA, 11 August.
‘Patience and Penitentia’ – Ida Sophia. Samstag Museum of Art, city. 25 June–18 September, Tue–Sat 10am–5pm.
Robin Eley painting demonstration. The Art Academy, Adelaide Hills. 15–16 August, 1–3pm. Free. Book at artacademy.com.au
‘Reprise’ – Thomas Ling. Hither & Yon, Willunga. 31 July–31 August Fri–Mon 11am–4pm.
Open Studios Weekend. 15–16 August.
SALA bus tours. Barossa, Adelaide Hills, Mount Lofty Ranges, Goolwa/Middleton/Pt Elliot. Bookings via salafestival.com
Full program and free app: salafestival.com
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