Aziz Art October 2018

The Land of Sad Oranges, is a
set of black and white drawings
consisting of faceless heads and
limp bodies, based on the short
story of the same name by
Palestinian writer, Ghassan
Kanafani.
Azzawi was inspired to draw
this set after Kanafani, a close
friend of his, was murdered in
1972 by the Mossadand in these
drawings, he tries to explore the
condition of statelessness and
particularly the effect it has on
the individual. In an interview
with Saphora Smith for the
Telegraph in 2016, Azzawi said, “I
feel I am a witness. If I can give a
voice to somebody who has no
voice,
that is what I should do,” and with
this work he tries to document
the inner struggle of refugees
and explore themes of exile and
displacement.
The art historian, Nada Shabout,
has classified Dia Azzawi's work as
belonging to the School of
Calligraphic Art (also known as
the Hurufiyya movement) using a
style termed calligraphic
combinations, which means that he
combines abstract, freeform and
classical styles
His works are held in prestigious art
galleries, art museums and public
collections including in both the
West and the Middle East: Vienna
Public Collection; British Museum,
London; Victoria and Albert
Museum, London; Gulbenkian
Collection, Barcelona; The World
Bank, Washington D.C.; Library of
Congress, Washington D.C.; Institut
du Monde Arabe, Paris; Museum of
Modern Art, Paris; Bibilotheque
Nationale, Paris; Pier Gardin
Collection, Paris; Museum of
Modern Art, Baghdad; Museum of
Modern Art, Damascus; Museum of
Modern Art, Tunis; Arab Museum
of Modern Art, Doha; Adel Mandil
Collection, Riyadh; The Saudi Bank,
London; Jeddah International
Airport, Saudi Arabia; Riyadh
International Airport, Saudi Arabia;
The United Bank of Kuwait,
London; Development Fund,
Kuwait, Una Foundation, Morocco;
Jordan National Gallery of Fine
Arts, Amman; and the British
Airways Collection, London.