Karem Castro

Since I was a child, art has been my refuge, a way to connect with my innermost self. My journey with drawing began at the age of 7, in the Dominican Republic, when I first tried to recreate the large cat that my teacher had drawn on the chalkboar...

Since I was a child, art has been my refuge, a way to connect with my innermost self. My journey with drawing began at the age of 7, in the Dominican Republic, when I first tried to recreate the large cat that my teacher had drawn on the chalkboard. I easily captured its curves, paws, and joyful face, but when I handed in my drawing for evaluation, what I received was rejection that marked my heart. The teacher, with a mix of anger and disbelief, asked who had done the drawing and threw my notebook on the floor. Despite the tears and confusion, something stayed with me: art had touched me so genuinely that, even though I didn’t understand it at the time, it made me feel different. Over the years, I stopped drawing due to the fear of judgment and the pain from that rejection. However, today, art has returned to my life not only as a form of expression but as a therapy, a healing medicine that transports me to a space where there are no limits or judgments. Painting and drawing have become a way to elevate my soul, a place where I can release my emotions, whether they are joy or sadness, and where I feel my spirit soaring beyond the visible, to a place only accessible to those, like me, who find true peace in art.