Khadim Ali's artistic career began on the walls of his family home in Quetta, Pakistan.
"I remember having charcoal in my pockets from the bakeries and drawing on the walls, drawing on the floor," he says.
Mr Ali says his mother was particularly dismayed by his early career choice.
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"I always had difficulties with my mother when she was washing my clothes and there's charcoal coming out of my pocket," he said.
The path to his showcase called the Haunted Lotus - at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, has not been an easy one.
As an Hazara Afghan he lived with daily persecution - and his childhood canvas, his home- was destroyed in a bomb attack in 2011.
Mr Ali says his experiences of discrimination strongly shaped his work.
"It's a picture of an identity crisis. How in Afghanistan and Pakistan, how people are looking at each other have been demonised and dehuminised throughout their history, especially the Hazaras," he said.
Mr Ali was awarded a distinguished talent visa by the Australian government in 2010. These are rarely granted, and are awarded to sports professionals, academics and artists.
He says being in Australia has helped him to further his work.
"It's a broader land of opportunity. I and my art really grew up here in Australia."
Mr Ali's present day demons are influenced by the good and evil characters of ancient Persian poetry.
Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Michael Brand says Mr Ali's work is unique.
"It's really fantastic to see a living artist going back into that tradition, into the book of kings, that 1010 AD in Afghanistan."
