Something to talk about
At Sala Art Gallery, the art is an invitation to conversation and connection.
words KARL PUSCHMANN
photos JAHL MARSHALL
The thinking behind Tauranga’s newest art gallery can be described as gently radical. There are no price tags or pretension on exhibits at Sala Gallery. Instead, it takes a more holistic approach where the art on display can be considered an invitation to deep thought, reflection and, most importantly, genuine connection.
“I put the gallery together as an excuse to have conversations with people,” Nigel Banks says. “Rather than a focus on showing art or a focus on selling pictures, the focus of the gallery is about having conversations with visitors about the origins of meaning in their lives. The primary purpose of the pictures is as props to support those conversations.”
Nigel is both Sala’s founder and the artist behind its inaugural exhibition We Are The Earth. This series of works meditates on the journey of life and explores larger themes of sense and self. Nigel sees the work as a conduit to conversation, either with oneself or with the artist himself, as he is often to be found nearby.
“It’s been a lifelong obsession, thinking about issues of meaning and where meaning comes from,” Nigel says. “When you touch into those moments, it’s something that feels really worthwhile. Much more so than just the standard social exchange.”
The vibe inside Sala is peaceful and meditative, which is appropriate as it’s nestled beside the popular Thai Touch massage therapy studio in Tauranga’s CBD, which Nigel opened with his wife Orasa in 2023. In fact, there’s an internal entrance to the gallery straight from Thai Touch which allows those holistic vibes, and visitors to the gallery, to flow in. It’s a welcoming space and one that takes off any pressure or intimidation that people can sometimes feel about entering a gallery.
That’s one of the most important aspects of value that I see in the philosophy that’s driving this,” Nigel explains. “Instead of going into a gallery and feeling an obligation to look into the pictures and figure out what they’re about, in this case the whole conversation is about meaning, and the pictures are there to support that conversation. You’re not looking for the meaning in the picture, the pictures are there to support the conversation about the meaning. It takes the pressure off.”
This core belief shapes every aspect of Nigel’s work and Sala, right down to the gallery’s carefully selected name.
“It’s a Thai word, chosen because it’s soft, because it’s short, it’s got a slight repetition in it, but also that it means ‘outdoor meeting room’. A sala in Thai is like a pavilion or a little shrine or temple in somebody’s garden. People go to a sala, they meet in the sala, and they'll have conversations that are important to them. This is creating a space that is dedicated to that same sort of purpose.”
While Sala only recently opened its doors, the idea for a gallery of this nature has been percolating in Nigel’s mind for 20 years, after a “transformative” experience at an exhibition by the prominent New Zealand artist Melvin ‘Pat’ Day in Wellington.
“I was totally entranced by his artworks, just amazing stuff. I spent two hours there, intimately and repeatedly engaging with every piece. It was like a mental vacuum cleaner, a little bit like meditation. Extraneous thoughts were washed away from me. When you’ve got art, you’ve got an obvious thing to focus on. By the time you’ve done that for a couple of hours you are left in this blissful state of being totally at peace and at one with the pictures. I was interested in whether this might happen for other people.”
It was his piece ‘Billboard’ that inspired him to make this longheld dream an “audacious” reality. Fittingly, ‘Billboard’ is Sala’s centerpiece. It abstractly depicts the journey of life, the search for meaning and what you leave behind. While working on it he vowed that when finished he’d have a place to hang it. Over the 18 months it took to create ‘Billboard’, he worked on having Sala ready to open.
“When I put this up it felt like a monumental shift inside me,” he says. “It’s like a perfect life opened out in front of me because I get to have these conversations on a semi-professional basis. Having conversations with people about the stuff that is actually really important to everybody, but most of the time we don't talk about, is a really amazing thing to me. Just casually with people who have stopped by, I’ve had amazing conversations about people’s lives and it’s just really, really neat.”
Then the artist smiles and says, “In Sala’s case I’m thinking beyond anybody’s requirement. I don’t think anybody needs this. But I’m hoping that some people will really enjoy it.”
