Reimagining the Gallery
There’s a reason I create constantly, instinctively, urgently.
Creating is how I stay in the world. It’s how I process complexity, grief, beauty, and contradiction. It’s how I make meaning. It’s how I tell the truth, when the truth is too layered to speak directly.
Since March, I’ve had the rare opportunity to create and exhibit new bodies of work each month. This rhythm, I’ve found, is how I live and think best. It’s how I stay emotionally grounded and connected to what’s real, responsive, and alive in my creative life.
Some of the artists I support are part of long-term, evolving conversations. They are people whose practices I believe in, and whose presence strengthens the community. I value artists who bring story, vision, and presence. When I support or exhibit other artists at the gallery, I do so without charging a fee or taking a commission.
What I ask for instead is care, professionalism, art that draws you into its world while leaving space for the viewer. A willingness to contribute to a shared cultural conversation.
Romulus Folio Gallery has evolved thanks to the vital support of key partners: The Gladstone and FB IDEAS. Without their belief and value in artist-led models and inclusion-focused programming, Romulus would not be able to operate as a living arts hub, one that centres experimentation, accessibility, and artistic integrity.
Romulus Folio operates on the belief that art can transform how we experience daily life. I continue to lead the gallery as its founder and creative director, shaping the artistic vision and programming. Day-to-day operations and events are supported by a small, collaborative team. Scott Ross plays a key role in logistics and community-facing support.
We don’t follow a traditional hierarchical structure. Romulus is intentionally artist-led, grounded in reciprocity and collective care. Exhibiting artists aren’t charged exhibiting fees, and we don’t take commissions. Instead, we invite contribution, through presence, collaboration, and cultural engagement.
This model isn’t theoretical, it’s practical under the current set of circumstances. It allows me to exhibit and share the space in ways that align with the gallery’s artist-in-residence setup, time constraints and capacity. It’s a structure built not around markets, but around what sustains creativity, artist professional development, community and connection.
More than just a gallery, Romulus is a living space for intercultural dialogue and creative exchange.
Our recent Weaving Three Circles workshop during Reconciliation Week brought together First Nations artists and local community members to explore storytelling, identity, and healing through weaving. Upcoming programs, like the Celtic-led Returning to Roots workshop, invite participants to reconnect with ancestry, heritage, and embodied expression.
Through these projects and others, Romulus fosters art as a form of belonging, dialogue, and transformation.
I create as if my life depends on it, because it has. The compulsion to create is that relentlessly livid in me. What’s different is that, I’m no longer only creating to survive. I’m creating to shape something that lasts and is shared in ways that transform how we experience daily life. Something that gives others permission to show up fully, too.
This September, we’ll be featuring a local artist for an exhibition and story that that we are very proud to have at Romulus. More details soon.