Threads of Love: Reweaving Qixi Through Contemporary Art
This August, the ROMULUS Folio Gallery team joins Threads of Love as guest curator and project manager, bringing together female artists from diverse cultural backgrounds and artistic practices for a contemporary exploration of creativity, identity, memory, cultural inheritance, love and human connection.
Presented as part of Double Seventh Cultural Week at Creative Asia Art Centre, World Trade Centre Melbourne, Threads of Love 2026 is guest curated by Dr Angelina Mirabito of ROMULUS Folio Gallery with Dou Jin, with Scott Ross of ROMULUS Folio Gallery as Project Manager. The exhibition opens on Friday 14 August from 6:00–8:00 pm, and everyone is warmly invited to join us.
From Women’s Creativity to an Enduring Story of Love
Threads of Love draws inspiration from the ancient Chinese tradition of Qixi and the story of Zhīnǚ, the celestial Weaver Girl. Qixi is widely known through the story of Zhīnǚ and Niúláng, the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd, whose love is separated by the celestial river.
According to the legend, the two are reunited once each year when magpies form a bridge across the sky. This image of reunion has become one of Qixi’s most enduring symbols, carrying ideas of love, separation, devotion and connection across time.
The cultural history of Qixi also reaches deeply into the creative lives of women. Through traditions associated with Qiqiao, young women demonstrated skill, dexterity, craftsmanship and intelligence while seeking blessings from Zhīnǚ, whose identity as the Weaver Girl connected her with exceptional creative ability and the act of making.
This history of women’s creativity forms an important curatorial foundation for Threads of Love. The exhibition carries these ideas into the present through contemporary artistic practices, allowing creativity itself to become one of the threads connecting cultural history with new interpretations and experiences.
The Thread as Connection
Throughout the exhibition, the thread becomes a powerful metaphor for connection. It speaks to the relationships that move between people, generations, cultures and places, while also carrying ideas of memory, identity, intimacy, belonging and cultural inheritance.
Threads can connect one person to another across distance and time. They can hold stories, experiences and traditions, creating pathways through which meaning continues to travel from one generation to the next.
The participating artists approach these ideas through their own artistic languages, materials and lived perspectives. Together, their works create a layered conversation about the ways love, creativity, memory and culture continue to shape human experience.
Featured artists include Crystal Wu, Xinzhi (Doris) Li, Adele Bauer, Sol Galvin, Maria Simonelli, Nusrat Fatema, Meicen Zhou, Bina Jean, Dr Angelina Mirabito and Guiseppina Graziano.
Across the exhibition, each artist contributes another thread to the larger conversation. Their works engage with themes including femininity, cultural heritage, place, personal and collective memory, identity, connection and the many forms through which love can be experienced and expressed.
Building the Bridge
One of the most recognisable images within the Qixi story is the Magpie Bridge. Each year, the magpies come together to create a passage across the celestial river, allowing Zhīnǚ and Niúláng to meet again.
Within Threads of Love, the bridge becomes a curatorial metaphor for connection and exchange. The artists bring together different cultural backgrounds, experiences and perspectives, while their artworks create points of contact between histories, ideas and audiences.
Visitors are also invited to become part of this evolving exchange. Through the exhibition program, audiences can contribute messages and images that will become part of the installation, adding their own voices to the network of stories, memories and connections already present within the exhibition.
In this way, Threads of Love presents cultural tradition as something living, carried forward through creativity, interpretation and participation. Each contribution becomes part of a continuing story shaped by the people who inherit it and the people who encounter it.
Join Us for Opening Night
The opening night of Threads of Love 2026 will bring together participating artists, curators, collaborators and members of the wider community for an evening celebrating contemporary art and cultural exchange. Guests will have the opportunity to experience the exhibition, meet the artists and people involved, and take part in the growing conversation at the centre of the project.
We warmly invite you to join us on Friday 14 August from 6:00–8:00 pm at Creative Asia Art Centre, World Trade Centre Melbourne. Opening night marks the beginning of the exhibition and offers an opportunity to become part of the evolving story of Threads of Love.
THREADS OF LOVE
Double Seventh Cultural Week
Opening Night
Friday 14 August 2026
6:00–8:00 pm
Creative Asia Art Centre
World Trade Centre Melbourne
Level M, 18–38 Siddeley Street
Docklands, Melbourne
Exhibition
14–23 August 2026
Guest Curator
Dr Angelina Mirabito, ROMULUS Folio Gallery, with Dou Jin
Project Manager
Scott Ross, ROMULUS Folio Gallery
Assisted by University of Melbourne Master of Arts and Cultural Management interns Zic Liu and Xin Ji.
Presented by Creative Asia Art Centre.
Supported by Victoria State Government and Asia Media.
We would love you to join us on Friday evening as Threads of Love brings together artists, audiences, cultural histories and contemporary perspectives through creativity and connection.