Welcome to Petal.la
L.A. graffiti artist
Petal1 is a Los Angeles graffiti artist best known for her iconic “Renegade Killer Beez,” swarming across the city and planet since the nineties. Bees, calligraphy, geometry, and abstract letter formations, are the focus of her work. A lifelong love for symbolism and bees inspired her signature swarm and hive designs. She is also a beekeeper.
Petal started writing on walls at age 13. Self-taught, her arts education took place in city streets, graffiti yards, and the LA River. Her bold and distinct Calligraffiti styles are a fusion of traditional LA graffiti and gang writing combined with Armenian and Arabic calligraphy. She works primarily on a large scale, in aerosol paint and ink. As an arts-educator and activist, Petal utilizes murals as a vehicle of expression and community empowerment.
In 2013 she produced the exhibition, ICON: Exploring Iconic Symbolism in Los Angeles Graffiti Art. In 2014, Petal and her sister Blosm, were featured artists in the LA Art Show, and produced the first symposium on LA graffiti women, Las Amazonas: The Herstory of Female Graffiti Artists in Los Angeles, for the Getty “Scratch” Exhibit at the El Segundo Museum of Art. An anthology of Petal’s works are currently showing in NYC at the new Phillips Art Gallery for the opening exhibition 1970/GRAFFITI/TODAY.
“My love for language developed early on. The product of a multilingual, multicultural family and community, I was fortunate to hear many languages spoken in my apartment complex on a daily basis.”
Notably one of three women out of 150 artists published in the Getty Museum’s first graffiti art project, the LA Getty Black Book “LA Liber Amicorum” Petal is dedicated to breaking barriers and creating opportunities for women youth and underrepresented artists.