Rhys-Thorvald Hansen (they/them) is a trans folk artist and facilitator of European descent living on the coast of the Salish Sea in the US exclave of Point Roberts, Washington. Raised and rooted in rural communities, Rhys brings a queer ecological lens to both their creative practice and community work. Their path to art started in agriculture: originally studying anthropology and religious nationalism in college, they left academia to work on an organic farm, an unexpected step toward a life built around land, creativity, and positive systems change.

Rhys began making art six years ago as a way to navigate grief. What began as personal expression grew into a practice in service to community, place, and the belief that art is a natural human skill essential for making meaning and navigating change. Being a transgender settler on Coast Salish land deeply informs how they approach themes of power, transformation, and multiplicity—not just in identity, but in ecology, kinship, and ways of knowing.

Outside of their studio practice, their work now focuses on facilitation using the creative empowerment model created by Charlie Murphy and Peggy Taylor. As a facilitator, Rhys uses arts-based methods to help community groups grow their collective capacity for creative problem-solving, emotional resilience, and power-aware collaboration. Most often, they are working within movements connected to food systems, land stewardship, and social justice.