Artist Maka Uddin recognized the complex duality of her life in the U.S. in childhood, before she ever picked up a brush or snapped a photo.
Born in Prague to Afghan and Georgian parents, the 24-year-old multi-disciplined artist and photographer is unveiling her debut solo exhibition, SUBLIME: Above the Mountains, at the San Diego Made Factory on Sunday. The exhibition brings together Uddin’s painting, drawing and photographic work in a multi-sensory environment that pays homage to her roots and her family’s immigrant story.
The origins of Uddin’s artistic journey began before she was born. Uddin’s father fled his native Afghanistan in 1980 at the age of 22 during the Soviet occupation. An aspiring artist, he originally planned to move to the U.S. and study art and return to Afghanistan. But her father never returned to his home country after all the political disturbances and occupations, and later met her mother in the Czech Republic, where they married and started a family.
View this post on InstagramShortly after her birth, Uddin and her family immigrated to the U.S. when she was only a 1 year old. They initially moved to Arkansas before settling in San Diego.
Poverty shaped Uddin’s childhood in the U.S. Her earliest memories were witnessing her parents make sacrifices for the family as her father sidelined his artistic pursuits.
“We kind of always struggled financially,” she said. “It’s hard to feel creative and want to paint when you have such harsh stress put on you, especially if it’s related to survival as a refugee.”
But her father’s artistic gift took root in her. With that inheritance in hand, Uddin said her perception of the world was shaped by growing up in a multicultural household with parents of different religions — Islam and Orthodox Christianity — and cultures and identities.
“Growing up both Afghan and Georgian shaped the way I understand identity as something layered rather than fixed,” Uddin said. “That duality helped me in a way that made it easier for me to step out and observe. That’s why my work often leans into nostalgic memory, energy and atmosphere, because those are the places where I feel the most truth and where I think a lot of diasporic experiences live.”
She began professionally selling her work in 2020 and started taking art more seriously. After graduating from high school, she enrolled at UCSD, where she majored in fine studio arts. When she graduated in 2023, she shifted from work focused on marble art for luxury homes to work that explored energy through color and color experimentation.
From there, Uddin’s art further shifted to works that reflected her family’s cultures and traditions, and highlighted prominent figures within the South West Asian North African (SWANA) diaspora.
Uddin was on a solo trip abroad in Egypt just after Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing Israel-Hamas War. It was a pivotal moment in her life; she had never been able to travel to Afghanistan and had never been to a predominantly Muslim country.
“Hearing the Adhan, which is the call to prayer, five times a day, was healing to my spirit,” she said. “Hearing words like mashallah (‘what God has willed’) and alhamdulillah (‘praise be to God’) in passing everywhere I went made me feel like I was at home. I felt like my spirit was so happy. And meanwhile, the genocide was escalating, I just felt a bit radicalized by that. I was never able to see the world the same again after that trip. That’s when I really changed my art and went into the more political side.”
Three years later, her ‘SUBLIME: Above the Mountains’ exhibition plays on the geography of Afghanistan and Georgia, both mountainous nations.
She says the exhibit is rooted in themes of identity, diaspora and nostalgia. The featured works explore what it means to move through the landscapes that have shaped her both physically and internally.
Make Uddin’s work will be featured in her first solo exhibit, at San Diego Made Factory. (Photo courtesy of Maka Uddin)Uddin said her Afghan and Georgian heritage remain central to this exploration. She hopes that through her paintings, drawings and photographic work, viewers will have the chance to see her innermost self and emotions brought into a physically tangible form. And that viewers will be able to explore a deep internal space where memory, culture and self come together.
“Afghanistan and Georgia have a lot in common due to contrary beliefs, although both countries are of different religions and entirely different cultures, both are mountainous lands and both have been occupied by the Soviet Union,” Uddin said. “Both have also been influenced by empires and trade routes such as the Silk Road and cultural exchanges for centuries. So there are many commonalities explored in this exhibit.”
Uddin recognizes that tackling the subject matter explored in her pieces functions as both resistance and a bridge for viewers. She hopes her work can serve as a case study showcasing nuance, humanity and the shared human experience at a moment when such voices and perspectives are urgently needed.
“Part of my goal is to heal people through my art and help them feel seen, especially women and people within my community,” Uddin said. “I hope the viewers see parts of themselves in my work and, as a result, realize that they have more in common with different cultures and the rest of the world than they think.”
Hence then, the article about with her first solo exhibit maka uddin hopes to reshape western views of afghan identity and the swana diaspora was published today ( ) and is available on Times of San Diego ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( With her first solo exhibit, Maka Uddin hopes to reshape western views of Afghan identity and the SWANA diaspora )
Also on site :
- The Stars of 1982’s Most Beloved Film Flop, ‘Grease 2,’ Just Reunited on the Red Carpet
- This New Doritos Snack Just Landed at Costco
- Amazon Has a 'Timeless' $27 Lee Denim Jacket That Shoppers Call a 'Must-Have Staple'