Dia Al Azzawi

Dia Al Azzawi, born in Baghdad in 1939, is an Iraqi who negotiated the past, the present, the local and the international through his artistic journey. Azzawi utilizes the western art language merged with that of Islamic and ancient Mesopotamia to portray his cultural experience and the intolerable political turbulence in the Arab world.

He studied archeology at Baghdad University graduating in 1962 and obtained a BA from Baghdad Institute of Fine Arts in 1964. Following University, he worked for the Department of Antiquities in Baghdad.

An activist from an early age, Azzawi would proudly express his political views in art and in practice.

He was expelled from school when witnessed in a demonstration supporting Nasser’s nationalization of the Suez Canal. He was called back when King Faysal II visited his school and admired his paintings. The king invited him to his palace and promised to send him to study art in Italy.

However, after the monarchy was toppled in 1958, Azzawi never had the chance to go. Following the Baath party coup of 1963, Azzawi antagonistically expressed his opposition to it and was imprisoned for three months. He soon realized that the situation in Iraq was unbearable where even art was scrutinized by the Baath party.

Eventually, Azzawi applied to London for further studies in printmaking and moved in 1976 for good.

Azzawi first joined the Impressionist Group, directed by Hafidh al Droubi his first and most significant mentor. He later got involved by the Baghdad Group of Modern Art, Istilham Al Turath (Inspiration from tradition) formed by Jewad Selim, and Jamaat Al Baoud Al Wahid (One Dimensional Group) formed by Shaker Hasan Al Said.

Nevertheless, Azzawi thrived for a liberated-experimental approach to art with a universal perception of heritage. As a result, he established Jamaat Al Ruyya Al Jadidah (New Vision Group in Baghdad) in 1969 and wrote a manifesto stating that art should be stylistically free but directly related to politics. He considered that cultural heritage-a resonance of our shared humanity can be a source of connectivity rather than conflict.

His work in the early 1960’s remained figurative with deeper connections to mythology and history; created Sumerian sculptures and images related to Gilgamesh. In the 1970’s, he produced what he called Al Qaseedah Al Marsumah (the drawn poem) which was a visual extension of the poem such as that in Al Muaalaqat al Sabaa. This developed into Dafatir (Artist books) hand-painted and written with Arabic calligraphy illustrating poems by Mahmoud Darwish, Al-Seyab and Adonis.

Azzawi’s exposure to western art opened new directions for him manifested in his abstract cubist style, influenced by Picasso, Braque, and Leger. He remarkably mastered two-dimensional figuration, constructive forms, and overlapping backgrounds. His work touches on human sufferings, best expressed in his epic mural- size drawing Sabra & Shatila, 1982-83, depicting a massacre during the Lebanese war - like that of Picasso’s Guernica.

Later, the artist would challenge himself with a further abstract painterly style; beautifully instigated in his use of primary vibrant colors, expressive lines, geometric forms and open composition integrating the Arabic letter in a plastic form offering it a new identity. He creates small and large-scale sculptures in geometric and organic shapes exemplified in those inspired by the desert rose. He exploits different materials, such as terracotta, wood, bronze, and polyester resin.

After more than forty years in self-imposed exile, Azzawi still works and resides in London.

Written by Wafa Roz © Dalloul Art Foundation