Bergen finance worker leads secret life as street artist ShyGirl

A Bergen-based finance professional is also the anonymous street artist ShyGirl, whose first major solo exhibition in Grieghallen drew 700 visitors and sold over NOK 500,000 in art within two hours, Dagbladet reports.

By day, she works in an office handling reports and client accounts. By night, under the pseudonym ShyGirl, she creates street art across Bergen—some commissioned, some unsanctioned. Only a close inner circle knows her true identity.

“Those who know, know,” she told Dagbladet, which confirmed her identity but agreed to withhold it. Bergensavisen first reported on her dual life.

From office job to overnight art sensation

ShyGirl’s artistic journey began in 2022 when she reached out to a Bergen street artist on Instagram, asking to collaborate despite having no prior experience. Her first piece, “Don’t grow up, it’s a trap”—depicting a child reading a book with that phrase—appeared in a courtyard off Nygårdsgaten.

“It opened a door I didn’t know existed,” she said. “Street art is raw, often with deeper meaning.” Since then, she has created around 50 works across Bergen, some legally, others under cover of darkness.

“I still go out at night sometimes,” she admitted. “The contrast to my A4 office life is what makes it meaningful. I need something that breaks the routine.”

Exhibition success and future plans

Her exhibition, The Heist, sold out key pieces rapidly, surprising even ShyGirl herself. “It was surreal,” she said. While her art now earns more than her finance job, she remains hesitant to leave her stable career—though the exhibition’s success may change that.

“I’ll use this as a guide for what’s possible, but quitting feels like a big step,” she said. Her plans include new murals, collaborations, and expanding her work along Norway’s coast. Long-term, she dreams of taking her art to Europe, possibly England or Germany.

ShyGirl’s pseudonym reflects both her shyness and her desire for an internationally recognisable name. Her art aims to provoke emotion—comfort, recognition, or pause for thought. “If it doesn’t evoke a reaction, it’s not good art,” she said. “I create with my heart, and people sense that authenticity.”