Without Hands Or Feet This Magician Refused To Give Up His Dream
Mahdi Gilbert appeared on Canadian national television through The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. They profiled the story of his life on CBC Arts: Exhibitionists.
People told Mahdi the Magician his body would make his dreams impossible — but he refused to quit
CBC Arts · Posted: Mar 18, 2019 5:15 PM ET
'I decided even if it's difficult, I'm going to pursue it to the end'
Mahdi Gilbert didn't have dreams growing up because the people around him would convince him out of them.
"One of my teachers told me I shouldn't use my body because my body 'isn't any good,'" the Canadian magician, who was born without hands or feet, tells filmmaker Jason D'Souza.
"[They said] that I should use my mind because my mind is still good." But then, at 17, he found something to be passionate about: slight of hand. Despite discovering that most of the literature about his newfound passion were written by two-handed magicians for other two-handed magicians, Gilbert would make it work for him and practice through the night.
"It was just working and failing every night," the Toronto native says.
He remembers almost giving up after a particularly bad night. "I had the worst feeling in the world," he remembers. "A feeling of just total hopelessness."
But, he thought, if he gave up on this thing — something that he really wanted and really loved — he would just continue to give up on anything challenging in his life.
"I decided even if it's difficult, I'm going to pursue it to the end."
That was 12 years ago. Now he shares stages with the likes of David Blaine, Penn and Teller and other luminaries in the magic world.
"I went from thinking that nobody would want to see what I was doing to travelling around the world and hundreds of millions of people seeing my magic."
Original article here: www.cbc.ca/arts/exhibitionists/people-told-mahdi-the-magician-his-body-would-make-his-dreams-impossible-but-he-refused-to-quit-1.5061056
A MODERN CLASSIC
Hidden Leaves playing cards feature original vintage artwork by Mahdi The Magician.
Hidden Leaves Playing Cards by Mahdi The Magician are painted pieces of cardboard with suits of dreams, lies, and love.
Within the majestic blue back design lives the tree of life whose branches contain all the colors of the rainbow and seasons of life and death. The roots, branches, and leaves all represent the story of humanity’s heartbeat.
Features no indices just like playing cards used to be made. This unique feature allows you to explore all sorts of forgotten card transformations, hypnotize your audiences with hallucinations of duplicates, renders well-known prearranged stacks completely invisible.
Lovingly printed by The United States Playing Card Company with our bespoke thin stock and premium smooth finish.
“Riderbacks, Reimagined.” - Dan & Dave Buck
Embracing The Rainbow,
Painted Strokes
Drawn from & Bringing color
to Life, Lies, & Love.
