The Art of Surface Exhibition— Melbourne Design Week May 15-25
The Art of Surface: Texture and Colour in Spatial Design
Part of #MelbourneDesignWeek presented by @NGVMelbourne
May 15–25, 2025
ROMULUS Folio Gallery, South Melbourne
Join artist Angelina Mirabito, and filmmaker and artist, Samuel Galloway for The Art of Surface: Texture and Colour in Spatial Design, an immersive exhibition exploring how light, texture, and spatial design shape our experience of the world.
This exhibition emerged from a deeply personal journey, influenced by stillness, space, and recovery. For over a decade, Mirabito lived largely immobile due to the adverse effects of complex trauma. Through long periods of observing white walls, shifting light, and how interiors held her body and mind, she began to understand the surface as more than visual—it became tactile, psychological, and transformative.
A turning point came in a high-rise apartment during recovery, where thoughtful design made it possible to experience safety and possibility. That experience inspired this body of work, completed during her artist residency at The Gladstone (now home to Romulus Folio Gallery). Supported by The Gladstone/ FB Ideas. Proudly auspiced by Arts Access Victoria.
This quiet manifesto of transformation centres around five works—Alter, Cosmic Recurrence, Tomorrow’s Door, Echo, and Becoming—each exploring the interface between texture, body, space, and self. Alongside Mirabito’s pieces is a poetic visual collaboration with Samuel Galloway, whose video art, photography, and light installation expand on the symbolic pull of the moth: instinctively drawn to light, it becomes a metaphor for resilience, embodiment, and renewal.
Exhibition Details
Dates: May 15–25
Location: Romulus Folio Gallery
Ground Floor, Tower B Lobby, The Gladstone
15–85 Gladstone St, South Melbourne VIC
Wheelchair accessible | Low-sensory setting | Accessible bathroom and seating available
Gallery Hours:
Wed–Fri: 12–7 PM
Weekends: 12–5 PM
(Visits outside these times by appointment)
SPECIAL EVENTS
Opening Event: Sat, May 17 | 2–5 PM (Free Event, registration required)
Brief speeches begin at 3:00 PM and include Marcus Westbury, CEO of FB Ideas.
Register via Eventbrite or Here
About the Artists
Angelina Mirabito is a contemporary artist working at the intersection of materiality, memory, and transformation. Her practice explores the interface between personal experience and spatial design, using texture, surface, and light as both symbolic and sensory languages. With a background in creative writing and lived experience of complex trauma, her work is deeply embodied and conceptually layered. She lives and works on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country.
Samuel Galloway is a Kiwi filmmaker and video artist based in the Yarra Valley, based on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Eastern Kulin Nation. His work spans narrative film, commercial cinematography, and video art, including light installations and 16mm film. With a background in performance and stand-up comedy, Samuel brings emotional depth and irreverent humour to recurring themes such as working-class struggle, climate change, and family. His films have screened at Oscar-qualifying festivals including Raindance, Austin, and Show Me Shorts, and his commercial work as a Director of Photography includes brands like Dulux, ANZ, and Bosch. His recent video art projects push the boundaries of the medium, offering immersive, thought-provoking visual experiences.