Dia al-Azzawi is a pivotal figure in Iraqi, Arab, and Global South modernisms. A Wolf Howls: Memories of a Poet (1968) stands out among al-Azzawi’s first paintings, made in the 1960s, that use mythological and folklore references. It is painted in the aftermath of a turbulent period – the Six Day War in 1967 (when Syria, Jordan, and Iraq were defeated by Israel) and the Ba’ath coup, which brought the Socialist Ba’ath party back to power in Iraq. The painting is based on an unpublished poem by Muzaffar Al-Nawab – a friend of al-Azzawi a major figure in Arab literature, and a fierce critic of dictatorial regimes – that tells the story of a mother who lost her son during the Ba’ath coup. The intricate colourful motifs reference the kilim rugs used by peasants in the south, evoking modernist geometric abstraction. In 1969, the work illustrated the radical manifesto entitled Towards a New Vision, co-authored by al-Azzawi which argued for a transgressive and innovative art practice and for the artist to be both critic and revolutionary.

—Adriano Pedrosa

Dhi’b ya’wì: dhikrayãt shã’ir
(A Wolf Howls: Memories of a Poet), 1968
Oil on canvas, 84 x 108 cm
Courtesy of Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah