We had the good fortune of connecting with Mukhtar Stones and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mukhtar, what role has risk played in your life or career?
When it comes to risk taking it’s truly a matter of making an uncomfortable decision that’ll challenge you but help you actualize the life you envision for yourself. The first step is by ultimately being yourself. That is one of the biggest risks you’ll ever take and that choice comes with many challenges that’ll make or break you. Your outlook makes all the difference be comfortable with taking risks. Being yourself is more challenging than being everyone else so embrace life’s challenges through trial and tribulation. It’ll help make your story more badass and make you stronger. The heroes journey isn’t all make believe. That’s what helps me keep going atleast.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My name is Mukhtar Ibn Jihad Stones aka UncleMuk and I’m an artist based out of Philadelphia PA. What sets me apart from others is my will to be unconventional and obscure. I always have been creative since I was a kid and always wanted to live my life making art. For me making art is my sense of being. That’s what got me to where I am now by never giving up on my passion and dreams. Nothing is easy, nothing is hard you just have to do the work. The challenges will always appear, I embrace them and ground myself through my trials. It helps fuel my artwork and drive. I’m a UArts 2022 Graduate and I’ve been living off my art ever since. Most people asked me what were my plans after art school and i told them to be an artist. I’m a multimedia interdisciplinary artist, most of my work is predominantly visual art. I paint, draw, sew, model, and tattoo. I don’t make music yet atleast. My paintings are mixed media they are fabric based, 3D sculptural, incorporating painting/drawing and embroidery. This style of work I coined as Lyn Chōkoku Pictura, which means soft sculpture paintings. I also make fashion pieces that are stylistically soft sculptural as well. Something important I’ve learned through my creative process and years out of school is to literally trust the process. Trust yourself and everything else will follow. Who else will? I am the brand and I’m here to world build.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Back home in Philly and anywhere else I go and travel to. I always try to visit galleries, museums, exhibitions and even fashion shows. I like to immerse myself in art regional and what’s going on currently. Most of my friends are artsy, nerdy, and geeky like me. So it’s easy finding the most niche and peculiar things to do when you have avant-garde friends in a new and different city. Other than galleries and art shows. I love flea markets, comic book shops, record stores and even just the movies.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Shoutout my family, my peers back home in Philly, Life, Universe and God. It be a brain fart trying to think of every name but I appreciate all who continue to support me throughout my career and endeavors.

Website: https://unclemukstudios.myshopify.com/

Instagram: @Unclemuk.studios

Youtube: UNCLEMUK.

Image Credits
Photographer credits belong to Zack Visuals @zackk.visuals, Jaedyn Taylor @o0_gemini_0o and Hibbard Nash @hibbard_nash. Special shoutouts to my friends who model for me you guys mean the world to me.

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