About Vida

Vida was born in Afghanistan. She and her family fled Afghanistan few years after the Russian invasion when she was just seven years old, staying in New Delhi, India for three years before emigrating to the United States. Her passion for painting began at childhood. While living in India as a refugee, as a fourth grader, Vida painted a large canvas, over three times her size, for Afghan demonstrators who were marching in New Delhi to protest the Russian invasion. She received an award for the painting and was also featured in an article in the Times of India. These first experiences and many more that followed inspired Vida to continue to paint and sketch. Vida remembers these days fondly, saying "India was a place where I learned to respect art in general, to appreciate color, music, forms, sounds and the magic of moving images on the big screen of Indian cinemas. It was a magical time!"

Bridging abstract and realism, Vida's work blends vibrant colors to decipher the piece of a puzzle that slowly comes to focus."My paintings are sacred to me, because they are pieces of me" says Vida. "They are reflections of my soul, and my thoughts at a specific moment in time". Her work expresses her conscious and subconcious thoughts as a modern female artist. Vida's art work uses psychology, philosophy, symbolism, color and composition, movement and light, layers and depth of thoughts to tell a unique a story. Perhaps each piece of painting is a a piece of larger tale, which one can keep looking into yet never be entirely finished with all that she has to say. Vida's work is emotive, alive, solid and assured. Her brush work has vigor and lightness. "... the aesthetic of a piece is important to me. I want art to be pleasing to the eye and the mind", says Vida.

Vida has worked as a volunteer member of Afghan American Peace Corps for more then seven years, a non profit which was founded in 1998 by her mother. AAPC is geared to bridging gaps of communication between east and west thru art. Vida was elected President of the Peace Corp in the Year 2006 and currently serving her second term by popular vote of the Directors and Chairs. In the summer of 2006 shortly after the fall of the Taliban, Vida returned to Afghanistan to create a large mural for the public called "Full Moon". "My original idea was to paint something on one of the walls that were bullet ridden from time of the war, but due to the unrest in the city, plans were changed". This inspiring 20 feet tall oil painting called "Full Moon" was painted on an 18 x 20 feet tall cement wall. It sits on the side of a mountain at an elevation of 200 feet in one of the most famous Parks in Kabul City called Lake Qhargha. "I was not paid for my time or my work. This was my gift to my country, the only gift that I could give", says Vida. Lake Qhargha is very famous for it's tall snow peak mountains, and a deep and clear tourqoise blue lake. "Full moon", has become a tourist attraction for the locals and visitors alike. "Full Moon" Wall has been viewed by hundreds of thousands of viewers in the last two years.

By Using ink, brush, sound, clay, nature, thoughts, reflections, color, brush stroke, movement, composition, lighting, observation of present and the past, and the magic of moving images, Vida continues to carve out her own unique voice out of the chaos and noise of two very opposing worlds.