Art Imitates Life: A Conversation with Malu Cunali
Malu Cunali is in the liminal space of her creative career. Moving between tattooing and illustration, the Brazilian-born, Stockholm-based artist brings me into her world: one that is earth-conscious, art-obsessed, and brimming with colour.
Situated in the leafy residential area of Gärdet lies Malu’s home: a light-filled apartment in which everything, even the furniture, is laden with meaning. I'm greeted at the door by three energetic dogs, sniffing and pawing at my legs with curiosity. “Sorry,” Malu apologises. “We’re currently looking after my husband’s mother’s dogs too, so it’s a full house.” I wave away her niceties and lap up the affection. I take a particular liking to James (Malu’s dog), his moon eyes and pendulous ears typical of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. He’ll later switch between our laps for scratches during the interview, but for now, he quietly pads alongside as Malu gives me a tour.
There’s no denying this is the home of an artist. Contrary to the beige, IKEA-surplus of most Swedish homes, Malu’s is an eclectic mix that artfully balances Scandinavian design with Brazilian interiors. "I like to have colours and textures that remind me of Brazil,” she says. “Whenever I visit, I always bring back some décor, like those masks on the wall or that wooden armadillo over there.” A faux cowhide chaise lounge occupies a corner of the living room, while her uncle’s photography hangs proudly above the sofa. Adjacent to the self-painted, royal blue kitchen is Malu’s mustard-coloured studio (also self-painted), set among the treetops in a prime, sunlit spot.
Malu’s home is reflective of her as a person: intentional, energetic, curious, a little whimsical. There’s something about her that stops you in your tracks – an innate, natural beauty, with her olive skin, green-hazel eyes, and thick brunette curls. The aggrandizing thing about her beauty is that she is so blissfully unaware of it too. “Should I change?” she asks, frowning down at her shirt. “Are you sure this is okay?” There’s a quiet nervousness to her as she potters around the kitchen, catching herself just as she’s about to put milk in my glass of water. “My God, what am I doing?” she exclaims, and we both laugh. When we finally settle on the sofa, she takes a breath and zones in. A wave of confidence and assurance washes over her as she comes to talk about the things she cares deeply about – the world, for one.
A self-declared earth empath, Malu tells me she's only “just feeling ready to bloom again”, after an anxious start to the year, shaped by current world affairs. “It gets to me a lot, especially when it's about nature – the environment and animals,” she says. “It really makes me emotional. That’s why it’s good for me to have the illustration… as a kind of therapy.”
Malu grew up in São Paulo, the largest city in the Southern Hemisphere. “It was always a lot – the crowds, the traffic, the noise,” she recounts. However, the exact antithesis of its cities, is that Brazil plays host to the world’s most biodiverse landscape. Escaping to her grandfather’s farmhouse in the countryside was a great privilege for Malu, and the hallmark of her childhood. “When I was there, it was like I was in a completely different world,” she says. “Nature's always been the most important thing for me – to feel good, to find inspiration, to embrace calmness.”
“That’s why it’s good for me to have the illustration… as a kind of therapy.”
Malu's love of floral and fauna is plainly obvious in her work as an artist. Woven into her illustrations are symbols of life and its circularity, and the intricate threads that connect each species to earth. “We need to understand that we share this world, and as humans, we should take care of them [the floral and fauna] too,” Malu says.
There’s an unmistakable reference to Brazil and the Amazon rainforest – from native botanicals and flying macaws to golden lion tamarins and browned nuts. When I peruse her illustrations online, I can’t help but notice two recurring creatures: a jaguar and a fox. When I ask Malu about their presence, she’s momentarily stumped. “I’ve genuinely never thought about that. Only when you asked, I started looking around and thought, ‘Oh, that's true!’ It was quite a beautiful shock for me!” The reason, however, feels entirely intuitive. Native to South America, the jaguar represents Malu's home country. But the fox? “We always see them in the Swedish countryside – I’d never actually seen a fox before coming here,” she exclaims. “Perhaps painting both is somehow me trying, subconsciously, to find my identity between the two.”
Malu’s move to Sweden was motivated by the same reason as many others I know…love. While studying architecture and urbanism in Lisbon, she met Mosse, now her husband of two years, though they’ve been together for six. After an accidental meet-cute at the beach, the pair kept in touch for a year, with the occasional visits in between. “He got me to visit during the summer...nice trap,” she jokes. Despite a harsh November welcome, Malu was determined to see what it would be like to live in a completely different country. “I wanted to kind of reinvent myself. New friends. New climates,” she says.
You can take the woman out of Brazil, but can you take Brazil out of the woman? The answer is a resounding no. “Although I’ve accepted Sweden as my home, Brazil is never going to leave my life,” Malu says. “When I go back, I’m like ‘Ah, my food, my culture, my sun, my music, my bars, my nature!’ Leaving it has made everything feel so much more precious to me.”
When I ask Malu what she’s learnt from living in Sweden, she replies, “I learnt how to take a pause, to say no, and inject a little more calmness into my life. In Brazil, I felt that I was only looking outwards but never looking inwards. Here, I can do both.” However, there are characteristics from Brazil that Malu refuses to relinquish. “I don't know how to explain this in a good way...but my fire,” she says. “I like to talk. I like to dance. I like to be a little bit intense. I’m a little spicy. I want to bring this warmth to everyone, you know.”
“Although I’ve accepted Sweden as my home, Brazil is never going to leave my life.”
They say speaking in your native tongue is like speaking from your soul. After moving to Stockholm and finding difficulty with the job market, Malu began working at Beehive: a tattoo studio that was fortuitously run by immigrants. “Most of the people there are Brazilian. It made such a difference for me to live here and feel at home,” she says. “They are older than me, so it feels like they are my big sisters. Tattooing there was the best thing that happened for me to start my life here.”
I hadn’t mentioned it before, but this is, in fact, not our first time meeting. Malu and I came to know each other back in September 2024, when she tattooed my friends, who were visiting from Australia at the time. Then, in the subsequent year, she tattooed me: a small anatomical heart and brain in fine, red ink. To jog her memory, I begin describing their tattoos. “Aha, yes, I remember!” she exclaims. “That's the funny part. I remember people from the tattoos they get, not their names or faces.”
Soon approaching her fourth year of tattooing, Malu reminiscences on the journey that got her here. “You know that kid in the classroom that was always drawing? Yeah, that was my thing. I’ve been doing it since I can remember,” she says. Whilst in the middle of university, Malu began commissioning illustrations for other tattoo artists. It wasn’t too long before the idea of cutting out the ‘middleman’ dawned on her. So, she bought a machine and tested it on herself. “I do not recommend starting like that!” she makes sure to add.
Whilst tattooing liberated Malu, it tested her all the same. Unlike other art forms, tattooing isn’t wholly dependent on your efforts. It’s less forgiving and higher pressure; a permanent illustration on a human canvas, after all. “When you're tattooing, there is an expectation set from someone,” Malu says. "There’s an experience that I'm providing for this person, and it needs to be 10 out of 10. It's a lot of responsibility. You can do mistakes in illustration, but in tattooing, you can't.”
But it is illustration that now occupies most of Malu’s free time. She predominantly works with watercolours but appreciates the form of digital art too. Her love for illustration is magnetic; you can’t help but lean into it. “I started to learn watercolour two years ago,” she says. “I bought some Domestika courses to learn the basics and started with super cheap materials.” She is smiling the entire time as she tells this story. “I fell in love. I want to do this every day of my life. I want to become my own brand. I’m just in there, enjoying myself, playing my music and listening to podcasts, and time just goes.” I’m curious about her taste, so I deviate and ask. Her answer surprises me. “Crime!” she exclaims. “There was one that’s called Morbid that I love so much. Otherwise, it’s a lot of politics and history from Brazil… or just gossip podcasts. Even though I’m outside, I need to do my part of being informed.”
It’s special to interview someone who’s on the precipice of greatness. I can’t help but feel like the zenith of her career is right around the corner. For Malu, she’s ready to launch. “I don’t want to tie myself into the box of reality,” she says. “I don’t want to draw based on what people would be impressed by, but rather what I want to compose. I want to let go and stop being so rigid. I want it to be something more imaginary, more surreal.”
After turning her prints into textiles – with assistance from her mum managing the garment production in Brazil – Malu has big ideas in mind. When we talk about dream collaborations, it doesn't feel fanciful, but rather like we’re predicting the future. “There is a brand from Brazil that I love called Farm Rio”, she says. “I also love Liberty London and Anthropology as well.” I can see the cogs in her brain turning as she excitedly divulges more. “Ooh, and one of my dreams is to do a scarf for Hermes! Maybe illustrate a book as well. I'm just so excited for what’s to come. There are so many possibilities.”
As our time together nears a close, I’m interested in knowing if Malu couch-rots like the rest of us. The answer is yes, but the want to illustrate overrides everything else. The woman does love a sleep-in though, and on her perfect ‘mysigt’ day, she would choose to do exactly that. “I am not waking up early,” she says, shaking her head. “Once I do though, I’d get some brunch at Stockholm Brunch Club. It’s so hard to find good pancakes...and I love pancakes.” Although she hasn’t tried any Brazilian spots in Stockholm, she comes with a highly recommended fare: Pão de Queijo (baked cheese bread) available at Brazil & Co. Butik. At that point, James flops over to me and rests his head in my lap. I swoon over him. “I think that’s a sign we should wrap this up,” I say. “Now, let me turn this Dictaphone off before everyone hears my dog voice.”
MALU CUNALI
@malucunali
https://malucunali.com/