Qatar Museums to Stage a Retrospective of the Iraqi Artist Dia Al-Azzawi

Qatar Museums (QM) is going to stage a major retrospective of the Iraqi Modernist artist Dia Al-Azzawi in October. The exhibition will be the largest-ever solo exhibition of works by an Arab artist. It will be staged in two venues in Doha, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art and QM Gallery Al Riwaq, covering 9,000 sq. m and including 400 works.

Curated by Catherine David, the deputy director of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the show includes works in a variety of media, as well as original and limited editions of works on view for the first time. The two venues, across the city from one another, will highlight two different narratives in Al-Azzawi’s work. The first will focus on the artist’s use of image and text, and the other will trace the artist’s engagement with the political history of Iraq and the Arab world.

Dia Azzawi is internationally recognized as one of the pioneers of modern Arab art. His oeuvre comprises over forty years of work. Azzawi’s art covers a range of subjects executed in a variety of media including painting, sculpture, prints, drawings, and book art. He lives and works in London but continues to derive inspiration from his homeland, Iraq.