Damian Ardestani

Damian Ardestani (b. 1985, Tehran) is an artist working at the intersection of fashion, art and music. He lives and works in the Stockholm archipelago.

As XOV he writes introspective, metaphorical songs about suffering, longing, hope and despair, the same themes that run through his art. He wrote “Animal”, chosen by Lorde for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, and the Platinum-certified “Lucifer”. His recordings have passed a hundred million streams.

In 2015 he co-founded I AM YOU, a grassroots organisation that has coordinated more than a thousand volunteers in humanitarian crises. With Human Rights Watch he founded Creators Society, an initiative for art and human rights. In 2024 his poetry, written from survivors’ testimonies, was part of designer Louise Xin’s show at the European Parliament, the first fashion show held there, addressing modern slavery.

He founded Surrealium, a house that explores existence itself through art, as a way of understanding and connecting with the universe. That art takes the form of jewelry, couture and collectibles, made inside a 1600s sea fortress outside Stockholm.