Dia Al Azzawi is an Iraqi painter, sculptor, printmaker and a prominent figure in the art scene of the Arab world. Born in Baghdad in 1939, he studied archeology at the College of Arts before joining the Institute of Fine Arts and the tutorship of painter Hafidh al-Droubi. Since then, he was exposed simultaneously to the ancient history of Mesopotamia, to Arab identity and modernity. In the 1960s and 1970s, he took part in many groups and events in the Arab World, including the Al-Wasiti Festival in Baghdad. In parallel, he held the position of Director of the Iraqi Antiquities Department. At the end of the 1970s, when his country fell under dictatorship, he settled in London and never returned home. Since then, his work has been displayed in major institutions, including a retrospective entitled From 1963 until Tomorrow curated by Catherine David at Mathaf, Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha in 2016.

On each panel of this monumental triptych, a tortured figure emerges from an intense red background. “Resonating the dignity retained in a Passion of Christ”, as Emmanuel Daydé writes, the work “refers to the extinction of Iraqi intellectuals.” The Wounded Soul is part of a history of tragedies in the Arab World that impacted Dia Al Azzawi on a very personal level, including the Sabra and Shatila Massacre and the multiple wars in Iraq. Executed in 2014, this work was showcased by Claude Lemand at The Armory Show, New York, 2015.