Reflections on Tides & Transformation and the Melbourne Design Show

The past week has been a powerful meeting point of art, design, and community. On the evening of the second day of the Melbourne Design Show Friday June 13th, we had the opening event for Tides & Transformation exhibition at The Gladstone. A night that beautifully echoed the themes of the exhibition itself: connection, adaptation, and renewal by bringing different elements, perspectives and people together.

The opening night was alive with conversation and curiosity. Many of The Gladstone’s residents joined as part of their monthly social gathering, people I’ve come to know through my time in residence. Others came from our growing Romulus Folio Gallery community, and many new faces I’d met throughout the week at the Design Show, drawn to see the work in its full context. The result was an evening that felt both grounded and expansive, with a rare kind of energy that only emerges when people come together through shared experience. Personally, as an artist, it was overwhelming in the best possible way.

The works themselves created using reclaimed shipping pallets, layered canvases, and fragments of past pieces carried their own stories of erosion, memory, and transformation. As well as works made from various new materials but influenced by what I discovered working with upcycled materials and being exposed to different spaces to test the work in. In the same spirit, the exhibition also featured a video presentation by Scott Ross, offering another lens through which to engage with the ideas of change and place. The integration of moving image added depth to the experience, reinforcing the exhibition’s theme of continuous renewal and movement.

At the Melbourne Design Show, I was struck by how art transforms when it enters new environments when it becomes part of a larger narrative. It’s no longer just an object to view, but a presence to feel. It begins to live within space, design, and the rhythms of daily life.

One of the surprising points of interest throughout the show was the degree of openness and enthusiasm to my obsession with creating interior impact walls large-scale, expressive works that shape entire spaces. Whether for residential, hospitality, or commercial interiors, these site-responsive installations offer more than aesthetics they create emotional tone, movement, and meaning. What’s possible with texture and light in this this regard and what it can do for sensory needs and overall well being is very important to me as someone who started creating these interior and exterior impact walls for these reasons and needs.

I’m beyond inspired and excited to continue exploring how art serve as a valuable resource embedded in the environments we move through every day to elevate the way we experience ourselves in daily life.

Tides & Transformation is a reflection of all this the personal, the collective, the evolving. It’s about the materials we inherit, the spaces we shape, and the stories that continue to unfold and universally connect through.

Come visit the exhibition at The Gladstone it’s open for the next few weeks, and I’d love to share it with you in person.

Interested in an impact wall commission or collaboration? Let’s talk. Contact me

Romulus Folio Gallery at The Gladstone.

15–85 Gladstone Street, South Melbourne, VIC 3205

Hours: Wed–Fri 12–7pm | Sat & Sun 2–5pm | or by appointment