The name is Darvish. Through performance and evocative paintings, an artist turns the misunderstanding and stereotyping of his identity into his source of power.

Darvish, who recently landed an upcoming solo show at Leila Heller Gallery in Dubai, is an artist being recognized for his evocative and playful work exploring cultural identity. An Iranian American artist living in the UK, Darvish’s identity has long been the subject of his work and others’ misconceptions about his background. He mixes Western techniques with Eastern philosophies, such as incorporating Persian poetry into oil paintings or converting a skateboard into a flying carpet. With his persona as a self-proclaimed “Urban Sufi” inspired by whirling dervishes, he creates gentle civic disruptions that are both spontaneous and planned acts of performance art. Sufism, also known as ‘Tasawwuf’ is a mystic body of religious practice within Islam, characterised by a focus on Islamic spirituality. It is defined as the mystical expression of Islamic faith or the inward dimension of the religion. In what he calls “gentle civic disruptions,” Darvish channels his influences and inspirations from Sufism to challenge our preconceived notions of culture and tolerance in performance work that strikes viewers and passersby with its surrealism, humour, and optimism. Though he is not a practicing Sufi, his work is meant to pay homage to the purity of Sufi mysticism. Here & There met with Darvish to talk about his work and how the guerrilla nature of such work is meant to disrupt the daily movement of our lives.