Ju Angelino—trained in prop making by the NGO Spectaculu (2014) and having studied painting at EBA-UFRJ (2017–20)—is a self-taught, multidisciplinary artist. Her work focuses on memory and popular culture, particularly Rio’s Carnival, drawing inspiration from her maternal grandmother—a baiana for the União da Ilha Samba School who was also a seamstress and fabric painter. She began her painting career creating canvases with Afro-religious themes, later expanding into murals for Umbanda and Candomblé terreiros (ritual spaces). She subsequently worked as a mural painting assistant on large buildings in downtown Rio and, in 2020, created her first major mural—an 80-meter-wide piece in Barra Mansa. In the realm of Carnival, she worked as a prop artist for Samba Schools from 2013 to 2015. In 2022, she won the Carnival championship with Acadêmicos do Grande Rio, debuting her own original work on a float using stencil techniques for a parade theme centered on Exu—a figure who also lends color and subject matter to her spiritualized artistic vision. Throughout her career in urban art, she has participated in projects such as Rede Nami, Rua Walls, and Cores da Brasil. She has exhibited at venues including Galpão Bela Maré, CMA Hélio Oiticica, the Rio Art Museum (MAR), and Parque Lage, where she also served as a facilitator for the “A Arte Cura” (Art Heals) course.
