Dia al-Azzawi was born in 1939 in al-Fadhil, Baghdad, Iraq. He earned a BA in Archaeology from the University of Baghdad in 1962, and later a Diploma in Fine Art from the Institute of Fine Art, Baghdad in 1964. Following Saddam Hussein’s ascension to power in 1976, he immigrated to London where, as a pioneer of modern Arab art, he continued his career as a painter and sculptor, while also working as an editor and curator, culminating in a major retrospective at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford in 2022-23.

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Ben Uri is one of only 170 museums and cultural institutions worldwide to have been invited to have their web presence installed as part of Bloomberg Connects. Explore an institution a week and it will take more than three years, but 30 minutes will inspire you to plan new visits.

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