The power of partnerships and community connections begins with authentic, meaningful, and trusted relationships—enter #ROMink.
In an effort to create an authentic connection between the ROM’s Tattoos exhibition with the broader tattoo community, I successfully established a partnership with Northern Ink Exposure (NIX), Canada’s largest annual tattoo convention, and tattoos.com. This built meaningful connections with tattoo artists and enthusiasts, providing insight in the development of the exhibition and marketing materials, creating a platform for their voices to be heard and their art to be seen.
As a pre-promote for the Tattoos exhibition and working with NIX, I created a pop-up tattoo shop as an installation in the DesignTO festival. The pop-up featured a teaser for the exhibition; a “speaker’s corner” style space where visitors could showcase their own tattoos and share the personal stories behind them. The highlight of the pop-up was seven influential Canadian tattoo artists—the “#ROMink Group of Seven”. Each day, a different artist worked on a single piece, from start to finish, during a 5-hour open viewing session. While working, the artist engaged with interested visitors and onlookers. It was truly an immersive and interactive experience for all involved.
In addition to building excitement for the upcoming exhibition, and cementing a strong partnership with NIX and the “#ROMink Group of Seven”, the pop-up helped the ROM step outside the walls of the Museum and engage with visitors in a real-world setting and on their terms.