SALA Festival Finishes With 2020 Award Winners Announced

The SALA Festival is over for another year and finished with 8195 artists participating in over 668 exhibitions across Adelaide, throughout regional SA and online.

This year's artists embraced the challenges of 2020 and demonstrated their willingness to continue to create in innovative and insightful ways with projections, online exhibitions, drive-by installations and welcoming the public into their studios ensuring restrictions didn't impact the individual experience.

2020 saw some imaginative artistic offerings reflected in this year's list of award winners and nominees:

Alycia Bennett won the City of Adelaide Incubator Award for her work as part of SA LA LA LAND which examines the role social action plays in art making and community development. This award enables artists to develop their art practice and to thrive. This award is given to an artist at any stage of their career, working in any medium whose work explores the experience of the City. Alycia was awarded $7,000 and will participate in a public program at the City Library before SALA Festival 2021, sharing her creative practice with the community.

The Unitcare Services Digital Media Award seeks to encourage experimentation in new media and is for artists working in digital art. Tom Borgas won the award and cash prize of $5,000 for his online exhibition 'Hyperobject' (Speculative Works) - a speculative digital project that reimagines the physical impact of wireless technology as physical manifestations, erupting over objects and architecture in the city.

Amber Cronin was awarded The City Rural Emerging Artist Award and a cash prize of $2,500 for her work as part of the exhibition 'On Being an Artist: 11 Actions' which interrogates the ways we are in relationship with nature as a tool for coming into connection with the world we inhabit. This award is for artists in the early stages of their career, with under five years professional experience.

The City of Unley Active Aging Award is for artists over the age of 60, celebrating the City of Unley's involvement with SALA and its commitment to promoting and supporting an active ageing approach. This year's award went to John Freeman for his exhibition 'The Inner Journey' which speaks of the complexity, diversity, and beauty of our own unique human experience. John won a cash prize of $2,000 and an exhibition space in Unley for next year's SALA Festival in 2021.

The Don Dunstan Foundation Award is for artists whose work explores social justice themes which align with the objectives and priorities of the Don Dunstan Foundation. Makeda Duong won the award and cash prize of $1,000 for her exhibition 'Mixed Race Female' which explores aspects of her lived experience in relation to themes such as race, gender, sexuality and mental health.

The City of Onkaparinga Contemporary Curator Award is open to emergent or established curators and aims to support curatorial practice within the City of Onkaparinga. Suzanne Close won the award for her exhibition 'The Uncertainty of Knowing' and a cash prize of $1,000 and a supported opportunity to curate a [GRAFTd] exhibition at Sauerbier House during the 2021 SALA Festival.

Early in the Festival Port Augusta artist Juanella McKenzie won the Country Arts Breaking Ground Award. Juanella will receive $10,000 to develop a body of work for a solo exhibition to be held at Light Square Gallery during the 2021 SALA Festival. An additional $5,000 goes towards a mentorship opportunity.

The Hither & Yon Venue Award and Credit Union SA School Awards will be announced later in September with award winners' detailed on the SALA website and via social media.

SALA Festival CEO Kate Moskwa said "Our awards recognise artists working across different media, subject matter, age, and level of experience. The judges visited exhibitions state-wide to select the winners and commented on the extremely high quality of the work this year.

"The 2020 SALA Festival has presented challenges for artists, venues and audiences but despite this it has been a huge success with nearly as many exhibitions registered as in other years. We presented our Opening Event online to an audience of over five thousand and introduced the SALA Podcast to provide a new platform for South Australian artists to share their work with global audiences.

Thanks to artists and communities around South Australia for embracing SALA this year. The high level of engagement confirms that we are a State which values participation in the arts in all areas of our lives."

SALA Festival is thrilled that Roy Ananda has been named SALA Featured Artist for 2021. Since 2001 Roy has exhibited prolifically around Australia and in 2018 Roy presented a major new work in the 2018 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art at the Art Gallery of South Australia. Roy recently completed his Masters by Research at the University of South Australia with a specific focus on the intersection of pop-culture fandom and contemporary art practice. As SALA's featured artist Roy's work will appear on the cover of the 2021 SALA Festival program and poster and he will be commemorated in the official 2021 South Australian Living Artists (SALA) Publication, funded by Arts South Australia to be published by Wakefield Press and penned by curator Andrew Purvis, best-selling speculative fiction author Sean Williams and emerging writer Bernadette Klavins.

2020 SALA AWARDS - FULL LIST OF WINNERS AND FINALISTS

· The Country Arts Breaking Ground Award

PRIZE: $10,000 to develop a body of work for a solo exhibition in SALA 2021 as well as an additional $5,000 towards professional development and mentorship opportunity.

WINNER: Juanella McKenzie

· City of Adelaide Incubator Award

PRIZE: $7,000 and involvement in public program.

FINALISTS: Carolyn Corletto, Kelly Reynolds & Sasha Grbich, Alycia Bennett, Kurt Bosecke.

WINNER: Alycia Bennett

· Unitcare Services Digital Media Award

PRIZE: $5,000

FINALISTS: Project Light '10 Barossa Artists Projection Trail', Kasia Tons 'Daffodil', Monte Masi 'Project 7 The Video Show', Tom Borgas 'Hyperobject (Speculative Works)'.

WINNER: Tom Borgas

· The City Rural Emerging Artist Award

PRIZE: $2,500

FINALISTS: Jonathan Kim 'Inner via Outer', Craig Glasson 'Line becomes...', Jane Skeer 'Open Studio', Amber Cronin 'On Being an Artist: 11 Actions'.

WINNER: Amber Cronin

· The City of Unley Active Ageing Award

PRIZE: $2000 and an exhibition space in Unley for SALA 2021.

FINALISTS: Stephen Hudson 'Once Upon A Time', Salvador Loreto '2020 The Year That Was',

John Freeman 'The Inner Journey'.

WINNER: John Freeman

· The Don Dunstan Foundation Award

PRIZE: $1,000 cash

FINALISTS - Brad Darkson 'Hold Me', Makeda Duong 'Mixed Race Female', Carolyn Corletto, 'Open Studio'.

WINNER - Makeda Duong

· City of Onkaparinga Contemporary Curator Award

PRIZE: $1,000 plus a supported opportunity to curate [GRAFTd] exhibition at Sauerbier House during SALA 2021.

FINALISTS - Gabi Lane & eDuard Helmbold 'On Being an Artist: 11 Actions', Suzanne Close 'The Uncertainty of Knowing', Andy Petrusevics 'Project 7 The Video Show'.

WINNER - Suzanne Close

· Hither & Yon Venue Award

PRIZE: $1,000 each for two winners.

Winner for this award will be announced in September.

· Credit Union SA School Awards

PRIZE: $2,500 per winning school and an additional $1,000 award for commended schools.

Established in 2018 this award is for primary and secondary schools.

Winners for this award will be announced in September.

While SALA officially finished on August 31 several exhibitions will continue into September, more information about all SALA exhibitions and events can be found online at www.salafestival.com or by calling 7077 0011.