Barbtropolis is the working name of Barbara Graetzer, a Rio de Janeiro-born, Brooklyn-based muralist, illustrator, and painter. Trained as a graphic designer and illustrator, with a BFA in Visual Communications from the Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago and an MA in Illustration from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, Graetzer spent over fifteen years in advertising before devoting herself to a freestyle visual world of lively characters and creatures that embraces imperfection over rigid technique. Her murals appear in New York community wall projects including Underhill Walls in Prospect Heights and Washington Walls, and she has shown with Court Tree Collective in Industry City, Brooklyn, and in the Women's Surf Film Festival group art show at Rockaway Beach Surf Club.