Why Beloved London Gallery TJ Boulting Is Closing After 13 Years

“I feel I achieved everything I wanted with TJ Boulting, and that’s why it’s time to move on.” Hannah Watson told Artsy. The beloved Fitzrovia gallery she had helmed for 13 years has closed.

The gallery was known for platforming emerging artists, particularly lens-based women artists. It was a tastemaker in London’s contemporary art scene, securing museum acquisitions and participating in art fairs across the globe.

After announcing the gallery’s closure on Valentine’s Day earlier this year, Artsy sat down with Watson to discuss its legacy, the challenges of running a gallery in the current market, the evolving artistic infrastructure in London, and what’s next.

TJ Boulting’s story begins not in Fitzrovia but in the East London neighborhood of Shoreditch, where Watson and her late business partner, Gigi Giannuzzi, first opened their publishing house, Trolley Books, in the early 2000s. Shoreditch was rapidly becoming a thriving hotspot for emerging galleries at the time, with influential names such as Museum 52, Kate MacGarry, and Studio 1.1 opening galleries nearby.

By 2010, soaring rents and gentrification had driven many of these galleries out, prompting Watson and Giannuzzi to look for a new location. At the time, Fitzrovia—just to the north of Central London—was a slightly under-the-radar neighborhood for galleries. “We found this beautiful Edwardian building, and everything fell into place,” Watson recalled. “We moved in and named the gallery after the building while keeping the publishing side as Trolley Books.”

TJ Boulting was born in 2011, named after the building’s original brass foundry (its name adorns the building’s exterior). But just as their new space was opening and they were working on an Alighiero Boetti solo exhibition, Giannuzzi was diagnosed with cancer.

“You can never predict what’s going to happen in life,” said Watson. “I remember that Boetti show, and it came about through Gigi’s connection. He was friends with the artist’s widow. It was an absolutely stunning, museum-quality show. Two weeks into it, Gigi was diagnosed.”

Gianuzzi sadly passed away in 2013. Left to manage both the gallery and publishing house, Watson continued and gradually shaped TJ Boulting’s program.

Watson never explicitly set out to run a women-focused gallery, but her programming naturally leaned toward women artists. “It was never a conscious decision,” she said. “But if you look at my roster, it’s predominantly women.”

Artists like Juno Calypso, Haley Morris-Cafiero, Poulomi Basu, and Maisie Cousins were picked up and represented by TJ Boulting early in their careers, gaining significant recognition in the process. Group exhibitions were curated by acclaimed writers such as Katie Hessel and Charlotte Jansen, and explored themes of birth, the female gaze, and textile art long before such topics became widespread in institutional spaces.

“I feel proud that we were ahead of the curve in certain respects,” Watson reflected. The gallery also collaborated with Manchester nonprofit Venture Arts, supporting disabled artists including Barry Anthony Finan, who won the prestigious Paul Hamlyn Award in November 2024. “That’s been one of the most rewarding parts,” Watson explained. “Helping artists at a crucial stage in their journey.”

“London is incredibly innovative. The harder things get, the more interesting things happen,” said Watson. While London remains a city with endless possibilities for new galleries, Watson sees significant challenges ahead, especially in arts education and funding. “The bigger concern is that young people aren’t going into the arts because of the costs,” she noted. “That affects the whole ecosystem.” She does, however, remain optimistic in her outlook: “London will keep going…it’s a creative force.”

While the decision to close TJ Boulting may have seemed sudden, for Watson it had been brewing for some time. “It was a feeling, I got this sense that things were changing a bit, and I should change too,” she said. “I was thinking about 2025 and had a shift in conviction about how I should do things. I started really assessing the bigger picture, not just with the gallery, but with what I wanted to do and where things were going. When you start questioning everything, it’s hard to go back.”

Watson’s desire to shift her focus on publishing was a key factor in closing TJ Boulting. Last year, she devoted months to producing Siân Davey’s photography book The Garden, traveling to New York for art book fairs and overseeing its printing in Italy. “That meant the gallery had no exhibition for two months, which made no sense commercially,” she said. “A gallery constantly needs feeding.”

Still, broader market conditions also played a role, she said. Rising rents, escalating shipping and storage costs, and the increasing financial burden of art fairs have made it difficult for galleries. “Everything is more expensive, from storage to shipping,” Watson told Artsy. “Mid-sized galleries take on more financial risk relative to their size. There’s also the challenge of keeping artists when bigger galleries can offer more. Art fairs are another jump in cost. Every gallery faces challenges, but mid-sized galleries have fewer safety nets.”