Marina
Fela-Castillo

My name is Marina Fela-Castillo and I am currently a junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). But, my story did not start there. Rewind to twenty years ago when I was born on September 8, 1999 in Gainesville, Florida. A couple months later, my family decided to move back to their home country, Venezuela, where I would grow up surrounded by my extended family and the tropical weather. Maracaibo, Venezuela is where I took my first steps, learned to ride a bike, amongst other monumental steps. After my eighth birthday, my parents decided to move my younger sister and I across the Atlantic Ocean to the small and rural town of Suffield, Connecticut. Imagine my surprise when I stepped out of the airport and felt the frigid breeze against my skin. I did not understand why the garment I was wearing was so big and puffy although I was grateful that it kept me warm. With only my immediate family, Suffield became our next home although it would never replace Maracaibo. We lived there until just before my twelfth birthday, when my parents decided to move to Winston-Salem, North Carolina which welcomed my dad with a more deserving job than that which he held in Connecticut. After around four years of fabricating the three friendships I had and after the draining and daunting journey of learning a new language, my environment was changed once again. I remember my first day at my new middle school vividly, mainly because I came in a week late so it was easy to spot me as the new kid. It was odd to see unfamiliar faces and have no friends while I was still mastering the English language but somehow I managed through it, although as a younger self I remembered thinking I would not be able to. Fast forward seven years later and Winston-Salem is where my parents still reside. I went to high school in Pfafftown, North Carolina and graduated in 2017 with honors. In August of that same year, I digged my roots into a new environment but this time it was without my family. I moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina for college and have resided there for the past three years, with occasional visits to Winston-Salem during the holidays. At UNC, I had to, yet again, find my niche, friends, and learn the new language of college. UNC has pushed me in directions I would have never seen myself taking willingly which leads me to the present time. After a life time of neglecting art as anything more than a pass time and two full years of Veterinary school pre-requisites, I had the epiphany that art is not just a hobby. Art is a part of me. Looking back at these past twenty years, I now see that art was, and still is, one of the only things that persists stable in my life. In Venezuela, I used my crayons, markers, and drew cubes and shapes to create a bigger picture. A style which I came to know as 'cubism' and 'abstract art' later on in my life and a style that inspires me till this day. In Connecticut, I also used art to express the emotions I did not understand and again, was always attracted to using shapes and/or creating abstract designs and patterns. Now, I have started to delve deeper in the artistic side of me and finally had the courage to declare a studio art minor. But, my story does stop here. I am looking forward to graduating in 2021 and continuing to explore the art world as I figure out my career path.