Once the home for the state's criminally insane, this weekend Z Ward will be hosting the South Australian Living Artists' Bad Girls: Into the Light exhibition by Susanne Wegener.

It is the third time the Eyre Peninsula's visual artist's works have been displayed in public, but the unusual setting of Z Ward surpasses the previous locations of North Shields local hall and Wasleys Supper Room.

"I'm a country girl and I really like the idea of bringing art to the people in non-conventional spaces," Ms Wegener said.

Ms Wegener said the SALA offer was an interesting opportunity to place colourful artwork in what was known to be a solemn place.

"I had not long been on a visit to Tasmania and gone to Port Arthur, and stood in the cells and felt the energy of the place," Ms Wegener said.

"I felt it was tinged with great sadness, but it also felt like a great place to bring some vibrant energy and light."

With that feeling in mind, she quickly accepted the invitation to show in Adelaide's Z Ward.

"I just thought this would be a wonderful place to bring positive messages of self-esteem to a place that has such sad history," Ms Wegener said.

The Bad Girls: Into the Light collection attempts to challenge visitors to view the negative facial expressions on display and then find a positive characteristic of the image.

Ms Wegener uses black-and-white images of women with differing expressions shown on their faces to provoke reactions from her audience.

"I want to reach people with the stories of these faces and get them to think beyond just 'oh, that is a nice looking image'," Ms Wegener explained.

The exhibition contains 22 images, portrayed on 15-centimetre square tiles and large vinyl prints.

"There's different ways of looking at the images, but the message is always the same," Ms Wegener said.

Treated with a sense of dignity

Ms Wegener said, as a family history researcher, she was very cautious in respecting the past and historical places. Manipulating or influential? Susanne Wegener's images from Bad Girls: Into the Light will feature in Glenside's Z Ward building this weekend. ( Supplied: Susanne Wegener )

"There was a real sense of sacredness, because of its use and purpose," Ms Wegener said of the decision to display her show in Z Ward.

"It's like I am stepping over a line and making [Z Ward] into something new and different and allowing the people who walk through to take away a different memory of the place."

Ms Wegener said it was a great privilege to be able to change the perceived dynamics of the place.

"I think I would feel very much the same way if I was exhibiting in a place where there were Holocaust victims held, or where there was a sense of horror, and then you can somehow reinvigorate that hanging horror of what once happened with something positive or enlightening," she said.

It was also a chance, Ms Wegener said, to help preserve buildings that had long been unused and left to ruin.

"I would hate to see this building [Z Ward] knocked down, because it is historical; it's a conversation point and is something that brings people together."

Bad Girls: Into the Light will be open to the public on Saturday, August 29 and Sunday, August 30 at Z Ward, via 63 Conyngham Drive, Glenside.