The Persian born artist Y.Z. Kami paints portraits of ordinary people, the like of whom we may see every day out in the street, yet he portrays them with an ethereal quality that renders them inaccessible to viewers.

Kami’s painting technique consists in the application of modified oil paint on linen which invariably creates a flat, matt surface resembling that of Byzantine frescos or Egyptian Fayum portraits.

This book presents Kami’s works from the last ten years and also features his works on paper, entitled Endless Prayers. These are made by gluing countless minute brick-shaped cut-outs from poetry and prayer texts on to the canvas in circular arrangements or according to some Islamic architectural detailing of domes. The spiraling patterns are inspired by the whirling motions in the rituals of dervishes found in the Mawlavi order of Sufism, who profess that the act of spinning undoes the ego, cleanses them of the self and finds the sole unity of God.

Published on the occasion of an exhibition at Parasol Unit, London, November 2008 – February 2009.

English text.