How Artist Juliana Naufel turns vintage photos of the past into new hopeful stories
Juliana Naufel is a Brazilian artist and art therapist who combines embroidery with old photographs to tell touching stories of healing, connection, and hope. In this interview, Juliana talks about her creative journey, sharing how her unique art style developed and the deep emotions behind it. She explains how she found her love for embroidering old photographs, using them to heal herself and help others. Juliana connects with the past by turning vintage photos into meaningful art and creating new, hopeful stories. She also opens up about her personal experiences with loss, the role of color in her work, and the joy of reconnecting people with forgotten memories.
Juliana Naufel is a Brazilian artist, art therapist and visual communicator who uses affection as her primary subject. Her artworks and art therapy practice are strongly influenced by the healing aspect of embroidering photographs as a way of making amends with the past. Naufel’s artworks are in a number of prestigious collections around the world, including The Wonders of Women Museum, USA; The Kanyer Art Collection, USA; Taube Museum of Art, USA & Museu das Bandeiras, Brazil. Naufel has held three national solo exhibitions, most notably at The Museum of Image and Sound of Santos, Brazil (2022), and Galeria Alcindo Moreira Filho, São Paulo, Brazil (2018). Recognized for her talent, Naufel was a longlisted artist of Women United Art Prize 2021 and clinched 3rd Place at the SeeingWomen 2020 Awards, by Photos de Femmes (France). Her artistic journey includes numerous residencies across Brazil and participation in over 40 group exhibitions spanning ten countries, and dozens of art publications including Create! Magazine, ArtPremium, CandyFloss Magazine, Art+Type Magazine and more. Recently, her work graced Times Square in New York City, paying homage to her grandmother. Naufel holds a MA Degree in Art Therapy from NAPE-São Paulo, and a BA in Visual Arts from São Paulo’s State University. She’s also a certified Reiki Practioner Level III. Her work is currently represented by PxP Contemporary and Kobbi Gallery. In February of 2020, Naufel Co-Founded Photo Trouvée Magazine – a contemporary art platform that showcases contemporary artists who use and are inspired by found/vintage/family photographs as a medium in their works.
1. Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?
My name is Juliana Naufel, and I’m a multi-passionate Brazilian creative and artpreneur. In 2016, I found my voice through embroidery. Since then, I have been exploring and studying the endless possibilities of embroidering photographs as a way of making amends with the past, healing traumas, and using it as an empowering tool for inner work that assists you in rewriting new stories and creating a new reality for yourself through the use of empowering embroidered affirmations. Without realizing it, I was using my art practice as a tool to help me cope with daily life’s challenges and promote more well-being in my life. Making art can be a lonely process, and being a part of a community and connecting with others led me to start offering group workshops – the most surprising aspect of it was that more than 200 people worldwide told me that embroidering photographs was a healing and uplifting experience for them after attending the workshops that I was hosting. This brought me a sense of responsibility and made me want to study more and learn more about art and healing, and that made me become a certified Art Therapist and write the first book ever about the subject: “Stitching Photographs: A Powerful Act”. Currently, I work remotely with clients from all over the world in 1:1 and group settings. My focus is working with women looking for a creative outlet to reduce daily stress, seeking more connection, and willing to learn to take better care of themselves with the assistance of their creativity to live life with more ease, even during challenging seasons. My urge to share my art with others made me learn to create my opportunities and follow my unique path that differs from everyone else’s. By showing up and believing that my message is worth sharing with the world, I was able to have my work exhibited in more than 10 countries and collected by Museu das Bandeiras, Brazil, Taube Museum of Art, USA, The Wonders of Women Museum, USA and The Kanyer Art Collection, USA, and other private collectors from all over. That still feels surreal and also led me to a leadership role in my community, showing other artists, especially young, queer, Latina women, that it is possible to be seen and live a creative life while running a sustainable art business. My mission – whether it’s with Art Therapy, Creative Coaching, or Artwork- is to uplift and inspire others, spreading messages of hope and reminding everyone that no matter how hard our past was, there’s always a chance to move forward with grace and to create a new story for yourself. We’re all here to connect with others, to feel that we belong, and to honor how unique each of us is, and use our gifts to support a better place not only for ourselves but also for the ones around us.
My art is a visual love letter to the world, and with every piece that I make, I hope the viewers accept the invitation to choose a softer & more joyful life, reminding that regardless of what happened in our past, there’s always room for a graceful present and that we’re allowed to move forward with shining intentions.
Juliana Naufel
2. What is your creative process like from start to finish?
My creative process has changed quite a bit now that I’m bringing more color to my work. I don’t usually work with sketches regarding my mixed-media embroidered pieces, and I’m usually led by my intuition when creating. The first step is going through my collection of vintage photos and selecting the ones I’m more drawn to. Since I no longer work with the originals, I have to scan and print the images. Currently, I’m choosing to work primarily with impressions on couché paper if I’m going to use oil pastels or print them on canvas if I want to paint with acrylics. After I have the impressions ready, I usually start working on multiple pieces at once, coloring elements of the background with colors that I feel belong to the photo or that will help convey the feeling I get when I look at them. As I feel that the color part is done, I take a moment to connect with the work and try to capture the message that it wants to spread to the world. Sometimes, it’s crystal clear the affirmation/message I wish to embroider on the piece; other times I have to go back to a notebook with quotes/messages/affirmations to see if any of them would work with the photo, and other times I have to journal and even meditate a little about it. The most important thing for me when giving new narratives to these vintage photographs is that, in a way, I am honoring and uplifting the people who were portrayed there. As soon as I have decided on the message, I get out a tracing paper to play around and pick where and how I will embroider the text. I then poke holes into the paper/canvas and choose the color(s) of the thread. After I am done embroidering the text, I create patterns and other details to complete the piece. I usually sign on the back of the work, and when it comes to framing, I prefer having a double glass frame so the viewers and collectors can see the back of the embroidery, too!
3. Can you tell us about a particular piece of art that holds special meaning for you?
“Better Days Are Coming” is one of the most special artworks I’ve ever made, and you will soon know why! The date was April 7th, 2020, one of my life’s most incredible days. The impossible happened! That day, I saw a comment on my Instagram page that made my heart skip a beat. It read, “Hi, can you tell me if this is a photo of someone you know? The lady on the right looks exactly like my grandmother!” I quickly replied and told the person I didn’t know who these people were and that I got it from a batch of online photos I purchased in São Paulo, Brazil, back in 2018. I acquired this photo by chance since all I knew before buying the lot was that the seller wanted to get rid of dozens of photos. Back then, I was beginning to do photograph embroidery and thought I could find a few interesting enough to work with. About half an hour later, the person contacted me again and told me that her grandmother was indeed posing with her best friend. She told me she didn’t know exactly where this photo was taken but that her grandmother was born in Cuba, exiled to the Dominican Republic, and later moved to Miami, FL. I still have no idea how it ended up in São Paulo! When she messaged me, I felt torn. At first, I was nervous she would be upset that I used her family’s photograph in my work, but then, I felt excited. I thought, “what are the odds, right?!”. We talked some more, and she told me she felt touched by the piece and knew it was a message from the beyond. Georgina–her grandmother– passed away in late 2018, just about the time I picked her photo to start working on it. I had no idea what I would do with it. I chose to work with it because one of my students at the time asked me if I could teach him to embroider photos, and after teaching him, I forgot about it for a while. The following May, I decided to pick it up again, and this time, I stitched a message of hope into it.“Better Days are Coming”.
4. What do you hope people take away from experiencing your art?
My art is a visual love letter to the world. With every piece I make, I hope the viewers accept the invitation to choose a softer & more joyful life, reminding them that regardless of what happened in our past, there’s always room for a graceful present and that we’re allowed to move forward with shining intentions.
We’re all here to connect with others, to feel that we belong and to honor how unique each of us is and use our gifts to support a better place not only for ourselves but also for the ones around us.
Juliana Naufel
5. Are there any upcoming exhibitions or projects you’re particularly excited about?
Yes!I am thrilled to be a selected artist for “5ª Ed. Residência Volante”, an art residency happening this October in Salvador, Brazil. I also feel honored to have two works at the exhibition “Obra/Têxtil,” – a collection of textile works at The Museum of Contemporary Art of Niterói in Brazil. Another show I’m proud to participate in is “Democracy 2024” at The Puffin Foundation, USA. Art and politics go hand in hand, and I feel that art is a powerful way to promote change in our society. Both shows are on view until early December 2024.
With her unique embroidered photographs, Juliana Naufel has created a space where art meets healing, turning personal stories into shared experiences. Her approach connects the past and present, inspiring others to reflect, heal, and move forward with kindness and strength. To learn more about Juliana, visit the links below.
