Maia Ueoka Lynch (she/her) has worked as a painter, illustrator, videographer, teacher, and domestic violence shelter worker, and finds that all of these things are very much interconnected. Her own personal history and the collective histories of the families she worked with, in part determined by conditions of geography, migration, sacrifice, and survival serve as the underpinnings of her work.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she studied Anthropology at Barnard College, Columbia University (BA 1996) and Studio Arts at the School of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA 2013). She is self taught in video and worked briefly, for a few years as a commercial director primarily in Bogota, Colombia, before becoming immersed in the work with children and their mothers fleeing sexual and domestic violence, trafficking and slavery at an AAPI shelter in Los Angeles. Her work in video continues through collaborations with various artists and organizations, and is also a part of her own art making process.

Ueoka Lynch was nominated for the Dedalus Award in Painting, awarded the Für Bildende Künste fellowship in Hamburg, Germany, the Dana Pond Award, Honorable Mention in painting, and the 2016 SMFA Alumni Traveling Fellowship. In 2017, she presented a solo exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston presenting work made during her award travel to Japan. Her work has been featured in Asia Art Pacific, Art News, and New American Paintings’ MFA Annual. 



© 2024 Maia Ueoka Lynch