After backpacking through 27 countries, the Brazilian muralist settled in New Orleans—the city that gave her permission to be loud, colorful, and completely herself.
This issue of VIVA NOLA is your invitation to Diseñar el Futuro—to design the boldest, most joyful blueprint for your life. And no one has designed a more colorful life than our cover star, Bruna Pétalla.
Bruna is a creative force whose massive, abstract murals are an inescapable source of optimism on the streets of New Orleans. For us, featuring Bruna—a Latina artist and the very first Brazilian to grace our cover—is a celebration of the unique, resilient, and ever-expanding cultural soul of the city.
The Journey to the Canvas
Bruna’s path to becoming a full-time artist was a global detour. While both her parents were artists in Brazil—her dad a wood carpenter and her mom a market painter—they never pushed her to follow that path. In the Brazilian culture of her youth, she notes, art wasn’t always seen as a path that “could take me to the world.”
She chose the world anyway. Bruna started her career in advertising, but a deeper passion called. She saved every spare penny she could for years and embarked on a monumental adventure, backpacking through 27 countries.
New Orleans became the final stop on a three-year quest, and she quickly realized she was home in a much smaller city than her hometown of Brazilia, but a city with great entertainment and with “the ability to live all the excitement while still being connected to the people,” she states emphasizing how community is very strong in New Orleans.
“I wanted to see the world and be able to experience different cultures,” she recalls. “And when I got here, I just fell in love with this city in every little aspect of it, from the food, from the culture, from the music.”
The city became her muse, demanding that her creativity take up space. During the quiet of the pandemic, she took her digital design hobby to the streets. Five years later, she is a full-time, small business owner, painting the city’s largest walls.
The Vibrant Blueprint: Joy as a Strategy
For Bruna, her art is the ultimate blueprint for the future. Her vibrant palette and energetic shapes are deliberate in her goal to spark joy in people through her work.
“I’m always trying to bring a little bit of positivity and brightness through the colors I use… I hope when people look at it, they can just smile and think about a little bit of a positive thing that happened to them on that day,” she says.
For Bruna, her murals on walls in the Marigny and Bywater neighborhoods aren’t just art; they’re an extension of NOLA’s visual soul.
“I am inspired a lot by the architecture of the city and the colors that we have in every home. I just love how it’s so colorful all around… “
Culture is the Antidote to Fear
Bruna’s decision to cover public walls in her joyful art is an act of defiant belonging. As we navigate a time of intense anti-immigrant sentiment, art is a visible, colorful response to those who would try to shrink or silence the immigrant community.
She firmly believes public art is the necessary bridge: “I really think it can help bring that sense of community and belonging… Public art talks to you and says, ‘you do belong here; you don’t need to be afraid to be yourself… You bring culture from your roots, but you’re also adding to the culture of that place.’”
Bruna is manifesting the next step of her blueprint: traveling for work to spread her murals globally. But for now, New Orleans is her home, the place that allowed her to go big with her dreams.
“I feel very grateful and honored to be accepted in the city through my work,” she says. She recognizes the profound impact it has on visibility: “It always warms my heart when other fellow Brazilians and Latino people that are part of this community say they can see themselves through my work.”
Her advice to anyone who feels their life has become “a bit too grey”?
“Be kind to yourself and go explore the beauty that you can find in our city… Go for a walk and connect with nature and let your inner joy spark a little bit outside.”
Look up at her murals as you walk the streets. They are not just painted walls; they are a clear invitation to design a life as vibrant as New Orleans itself.
Bruna Pétalla and Madison Roy, along with a crew of red beans, founded the Nola Mural Fest to provide a first opportunity for artists to paint a mural, add to their portfolio, and mentor young artists to show they can make a living from art. This fest is happening in the Spring, so stay tuned for future details.
