A Picture of Poetry The Artist's Books of Dia al-Azzawi

This catalogue also features essays by Francesca Leoni, Nada Shabout and Wen-chin Ouyang, translations of Azzawi’s own writing (by Saleem Al-Bahloly) and excerpts of the literature that inspired him to make these extraordinary daf¯a tir. Although these artworks would inspire a generation of younger Iraqi artists to create their own daf¯a tir in times of crisis and adversity, this collection remains a lesser-known, private side of Azzawi’s practice that has never been seen in its entirety before.
Dia al-Azzawi was born in Baghdad in 1939 and studied archaeology and fine art before working in museums across Iraq. After moving to London in 1976, he curated exhibitions and edited art publications and eventually became a full-time artist. Azzawi’s work has been widely collected and displayed in countless group and solo exhibitions, especially in Europe and across the Arab world (including three retrospectives: Paris, 2001; Abu Dhabi, 2009; Doha, 2016–17). Best known as a colourist painter, Azzawi celebrates Arab culture in all his work, while continuously blurring the boundaries between artforms and embracing new technologies. His works can be distinguished by their impressive scale (especially monumental paintings, sculptures and architectural design) and the amalgamation of images and the written word (including intricate works on paper and artist’s books, which he has been making since the 1960s).