Artist Statement

The artist’s lair is an act of resistance. It says: I exist, I imagine, I create. Building a world with no limits. I often meet myself here. 

I’m Maka Uddin, an Afghan/Georgian multidisciplinary artist and Art Director based in San Diego, California. I work between two worlds: the studio and the set. One is quiet, instinctive, and personal. The other is collaborative, energetic, and charged with artistic potency. Both require the same thing from me: a clear vision, a strong hand, and the courage to make something real out of what once only lived in my mind. My practice has been shaped by a decade of obsessive devotion to my visions.

As an Art Director, I lead projects from concept through execution- shaping the story, building the right team, and protecting the emotional truth of the image. I’m detail-obsessed in the best way: the slight head tilt, the tension in a pose, the precision of light, the placement of every object in the frame. I can feel in my body when a visual is nearly perfect, when it becomes cinematic, intentional, and emotionally resonant. My work spans editorial, beauty, and brand storytelling, including projects for N8iV Beauty Skincare and Durana Elmi, with campaigns connected to nationwide launches with Cymbiotika in Target and Ulta, and features in publications such as Paper Magazine and Emirates Woman.

My practice is rooted in lineage. My father is an artist; and his family fled Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s to build a new life in America. I didn’t live through the war itself, but I grew up inside its echoes: survival instincts, caution, silence, grief, and the deep tenderness that exists beneath all of that. It shaped the way I see. It shaped what I create. His talent lives through me, making my art feel layered with backstory. 

As a studio artist, I act as a vessel between my inner world and the outer one- my hand as translator. My paintings range from large, fluid works inspired by marble and precious gemstones, to portraiture with haunting eyes, to large-scale pieces where color becomes its own living entity. I use high–quality, vibrant paint to get my point across and to leave the viewer mesmerized. 

The women in my family have always been my shield. Their presence lives in me, and in my work- which returns again and again to protection, belonging, the quiet violence of being misunderstood, and the sacred power of being seen.

I want my work to leave people inspired and almost brain-tickled. Moved, recognized, and pleasantly surprised.

With all things considered, the gift to see… is the curse to create.