Artist dedicates mural to friend fighting cancer

Jenna Morello, who has created several murals around Bay Ridge and Sunset Park, made one in honor of 71-year-old Connie Galletta, who is battling colon cancer.

Connie is the mother of Morello’s best friend Nick.

For the last six years, Morello has watched Nick help Connie battle the disease and said that they’ve handled the journey with grace. She decided to acknowledge that through her art.

The mural, which wraps around a building on Fifth Avenue and 90th Street, displays bright colors of flowers and two portraits of Connie smiling.

“Aside from [Nick], she’s one of my favorite people in the world, and even though it’s a really helpless feeling to watch someone walk this walk, I just wanted them to know they aren’t walking it alone,” Morello said. “I felt this mural was a way to honor her that would be fitting to her personality.”

Morello, who collaborated with artists Bkfoxx and Claudio Picasso, changed the entire back portion of the mural’s color palette to warm tones in order to match Connie’s spirit. 

“I just really wanted it to serve as a feel good piece in giving someone their flowers while they are still able to receive them,” she said.

Connie was excited to see the finished product.

“I’m at a loss for words,” she said. “It’s just gorgeous. The colors are beautiful. It looks exactly like me. If that woman could talk, she would be exactly like me.”