Today, Qatar Museums brings down the curtain on the exhibition of the international Iraqi artist Diaa Al-Azzawi, “I am the scream, any throat that plays me,” which it organizes under the patronage of Her Excellency Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of Qatar Museums, at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, and Qatar Museums Gallery – Al-Riwaq.
The exhibition was opened last October and was curated by Catherine David, Deputy Director of the Pompidou Center in Paris. It was held on an area of 9,000 square meters and included more than 5,000 pieces of art documenting Al-Azzawi’s artistic career spanning more than 50 years since he was a student at the Institute of Fine Arts in Iraq in the 1960s.
The exhibition’s contents varied between paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, and the artist’s notebooks, in addition to original and limited copies of artworks that are displayed for the first time.
The artworks in the exhibition were divided into two sections, each of which monitors the path of Al-Azzawi’s artistic practice. The first section at the Arab Museum of Modern Art traces the relationship between image and text in Al-Azzawi’s works, while the other section, held at the Qatar Museums Gallery – Al-Riwaq, monitors Al-Azzawi’s interaction with major political moments in the history of Iraq and the Arab world, especially Palestine.
Dr. Abdullah Karroum, Director of the Arab Museum of Modern Art, said in a statement today, “The artist Diaa Al-Azzawi’s exhibition is the largest single exhibition held by a regional artist at (Mathaf) so far,” pointing out that the exhibition provided an opportunity to read important pages in the history of the region and drew attention to a global human tragedy as Al-Azzawi depicted it in his works.
Crom praised the exhibition, which made a tremendous contribution to enhancing the concept of multiple modernities that form part of Mathaf’s vision.
It is worth noting that Dia Al-Azzawi, born in Baghdad in 1939, began his artistic career in 1964 immediately after graduating from the Institute of Fine Arts in his hometown.
Al-Azzawi enjoys close relations with Qatar Museums, as his artwork was present in the inaugural exhibition of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, and Qatar Museums Al-Riwaq Gallery in 2010.
His works are also included in the Mathaf Encyclopedia of Modern Art and the Arab World, a pioneering electronic project developed by Qatar Museums in cooperation with Qatar Foundation and Mathaf to document the works of Arab artists in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Artist Al-Azzawi recently designed a group of public artworks that are scheduled to be displayed in various places in Doha for enjoyment by members of the local community and guests of Qatar alike.
Last June, Al-Azzawi designed a carousel called “The Enchanting East,” which is now available to the public in the garden of the Museum of Islamic Art.
In November 2016, Qatar Museums launched two exquisite sculptures designed by him at Hamad International Airport entitled “Flying Man,” joining the growing collection of drawings and sculptures by international and local artists at the airport.
M. M