01/21/2026
Whooo 🦉 is this?
This is me — Catalina Duarte, aka OWL.
I know a lot of people are doing 2016 callbacks, and while I wanted to do something different, that year mattered. In 2016, I graduated from community college with an AFA in Fine Arts, where I discovered the style and direction that shaped who I am today as an artist.
Lately, I’ve been reflecting on nearly 10 years of hiding my identity. I did it out of fear — fear of being targeted by police while doing street art, and fear that came with not yet being a citizen. As a first-generation immigrant, hiding behind an alias became a safe space to create.
Thank you 💜 Charlotte, NC you gave me room to grow and kept me in business for years. After moving away in 2020, something shifted. That same year, I began breaking, and it gave me a deeper sense of self-confidence and connection to my body. It’s an art form I hope to integrate and share more of moving forward. I realized my story — and my self — needed to be seen, especially to inspire others who look like me to pursue their creativity.
The past two years have been slow. I’ve painted only a couple of walls while navigating divorce and depression, but that pause helped me reconnect with myself. I’m finally feeling the energy return. Walls still thrill me most, but I’m also expanding into tattooing and streaming my drawings.
I don’t know how this will unfold, but for now, I felt safe enough to share a little more of me. 🦉✨
Thanks if you stuck around to read and hope to continue to connect more authentically through here 🌸💜🌸
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