Dia Azzawi, (Iraq, born 1939)

Misfired Target: Iraqi Cylinder Seal

Misfired Target: Iraqi Cylinder Seal
bronze sculpture with plaster
signed "Azzawi", dated "2008" and numbered "2/2", executed in 2018, number two from an edition of two
58 x 95cm (22 13/16 x 37 3/8in).

"I, Ashurbanipal, king of the universe, king of the land of Ashur, in my royal sport, I seized a lion of the plain by its tail, and at the command of Ninurta and Nergal, the gods whom I trust, I smashed its skull with my own mace."

- Ashurbanipal

Provenance:
Collection of the Artist

Exhibited:
British Museum, I Am Ashurbanipal, London, 2018-2019

This sculpture is inspired by cylinder seals and the Assyrian palace reliefs of Nineveh. The enlarged cylinder is cast in bronze with the famous image of the wounded lioness from the Lion Hunts of Ashurbanipal, which Azzawi uses to represent the destruction of Iraq and especially incidents in which civilians were unfairly targeted by the military after 2003.

The large panel is based on impressions of cylinder seals, originally created by rolling the seals onto clay, although here it is cast in plaster. The repeated lion motif emphasises the idea of the recurrent loss of human lives and shared cultural heritage during the many recent conflicts in Iraq.