Fayum mummy portraits
As a child, Kami traveled frequently with his family. His experiences viewing ancient architectural structures and the vast, dry desert left a significant impression on him, which he later carried out into his artwork. During his student years in Paris, Kami was profoundly interested in Lévinas’s ideas regarding the human face. He considered these ideas in relation to early Egyptian Fayum mummy portraits, which he first saw at the Louvre. He has recounted that he was impressed by their “neutral expressions ... their big eyes and their otherworldliness.” Other influences include 13th- and 14th-century Persian poetry, especially the writings of the Sufi poet Rumi. "Konya" (2007), for instance, includes several photographs from Rumi’s mausoleum in Konya, where he lived and died.