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In place

Two permanent halls
in one city.

في مكانها

Almost no living artist anywhere is given one. He has two, and a third body of work standing in gardens and on hillsides where anybody can walk up to it.

Installing a bronze and stone work outdoors. Amman. Fourteen seconds, silent.
Installing a bronze and stone work outdoors. Amman. Fourteen seconds, silent.

The only moving image on this site. Documentary footage from the artist’s own archive, published with his permission. Not generated, and shown at the resolution it exists at.

5 January 2025

Al-Hussein Gardens Cultural Village.

The invitation carries a line above his own name: برعاية الفنان ضياء العزاوي — under the patronage of the artist Dia al-Azzawi. Azzawi is the most significant living Arab artist. He put his name on the door.

The hall full of people on the evening it opened.
The hall on the evening it opened, 5 January 2025.
The printed invitation to the opening, in Arabic, showing the line naming Dia al-Azzawi as patron.
The invitation. Six in the evening, Sunday 5 January 2025. Al-Hussein Gardens Cultural Village.
A bronze figure holding a gilded cube above its head as visitors gather.
A figure holds a gilded cube above its head while the room fills.
Artists standing together in the hall on the opening night.
Artists at the opening. Amman, 5 January 2025.
The permanent hall, the bronze olive tree at its centre.
The hall, with the bronze olive tree at its centre. Amman, 2025.
The evening
A crowded gallery hall on opening night with bronze figures among the guests.
The hall filling. Opening night.
A bronze figure carrying birds in the hall, guests behind it.
The bird-bearer, the opening.
Guests standing beside a tall twin-headed bronze figure with birds.
At the twin figure.
Guests gathered around the bird-bearer bronze in the hall.
Around the bird-bearer.
Guests moving among the sculptures in the hall.
Guests among the works.
Three men standing together in the gallery beside the works.
Friends of the artist.
Guests and sculptures across the gallery hall.
In the hall.

Select any photograph to view it in full. Original framing and resolution are preserved.

A visitor beside the upturned figure with the gilded die.
At the upturned figure.
Two visitors walking past the works.
Walking the works.
Visitors in the hall by the black plinths.
By the plinths.
A visitor in a blue scarf between two bronzes.
Between two bronzes.
Visitors and works in the hall.
In the hall.
The works in the hall
A bronze olive tree with birds lifting from its crown, the gilded die behind it.
The olive tree. Bronze, with a gilded die.
The olive tree seen from the other side, birds rising from the branches.
From the other side of the tree.
A gilded bronze die balanced on one corner with birds lifting from it.
Bronze die balanced on one corner.
Lattice towers in iron and bronze with birds enclosed inside them.
Lattice towers, iron and bronze, birds enclosed.
A gilded bronze die on a plinth in the hall, the wall hung with work.
The gilded die, installed. Amman, January 2025.
2020

InterContinental Jordan, Amman.

The first permanent hall. Five years before the second one opened across the city.

The artist standing beside a large bronze head in a hotel hall.
With a bronze head, InterContinental Jordan.
A gilded bronze die on a plinth in the hall, the wall hung with work.
Gilded die, installed. Bronze.
In the hall, with the works
A man in a straw hat beside a bull: basalt and gilded bronze horns, roped, on a black plinth.
The bull. Basalt, rope, gilded horns.
Two men flank the bull in the hall.
The bull, between two.
Two visitors before a row of bronze heads on black plinths.
The row of heads.
Two men in the hall, bronze heads behind them.
Before the heads.
A man beside a basalt boulder carrying two small bronze figures on stems.
Boulder, two figures.
A standing bronze twin figure with birds, and a grille of masks on the wall behind.
Twin figure with birds; the grille of masks.
A man beside a basalt boulder crowned with a lattice cube.
Boulder with the lattice cube.
A man behind the bull, in a white room.
The bull.
A man in a pink shirt beside the bull.
The bull.
A large bronze head with two birds above it, outdoors among cypresses.
Head, outdoors.
Outdoors

Stone that anybody can walk up to.

Stone and bronze, commissioned for a project in Jerash, 2024.
Stone and bronze, commissioned for a project in Jerash, 2024.
Standing limestone figure on a dark plinth in an outdoor courtyard.
Standing figure. Al-Hussein Gardens, Amman.
Standing in public buildings

Single works, permanently placed.

Across Jordan his work stands one piece at a time — in banks, hotels, institutions and public buildings. Most of it has never been listed anywhere.

—
Central Bank of Jordan, Amman · أبجدية الزمن · Alphabet of Time — bronze
—
Sheraton, Amman · Ceramic mural, 200 × 250 cm
—
Nofa House, Jabal Amman · One work, permanently installed
Walk the rooms

Virtual galleries

Six rooms you can walk through from anywhere — two permanent halls in 360°, three virtual showrooms, and the Nofa House installation.

The permanent hall, the bronze olive tree at its centre.Permanent hall · 360° tourAl-Hussein Gardens Cultural VillageOpens in a new windowThe artist standing beside a large bronze head in a hotel hall.Permanent hall · 360° tourInterContinental JordanOpens in a new windowA gilded bronze die on a plinth in the hall, the wall hung with work.Virtual galleryShowroom oneOpens in a new windowLattice towers in iron and bronze with birds enclosed inside them.Virtual galleryShowroom twoOpens in a new windowA gilded bronze die balanced on one corner with birds lifting from it.Virtual galleryShowroom threeOpens in a new windowSeated turquoise-patinated figure with polished gold-coloured bands along the neck, chest and lap.One work, permanently installedNofa House, Jabal AmmanOpens in a new window

Locations, commissioning bodies and installation dates are being confirmed one by one. Where a work is in private hands it is listed only with the owner’s agreement.

Standing outside

One oryx on its feet, one lying down, on a block of basalt.

Almost everything else he makes is a figure reduced to its idea. This is an animal, observed — the shoulder, the fold of the leg, the long ribbed horns — set on raw stone in a courtyard where people walk past it.

المها, the Arabian oryx. It is in the record at 150 × 40 × 140 cm, from his own caption. This is the first photograph of it.

Two bronze Arabian oryx on a block of dark basalt in a landscaped courtyard, one standing with long ribbed horns raised, one lying beside it.
المها — The Oryx. Bronze. 150 × 40 × 140 cm.