"[4] His exposure to archaeology would influence him greatly as an artist, and he drew inspiration from the ancient myths of Gilgamesh and Imam Hussein, a revered Muslim figure.

Through his involvement in this group, he began to explore Arab cultural history and mythology, which became recurring themes in his work.

[10] He was the inaugural editor of the magazine, Ur (1978-1984) - a provocative new journal published by the Iraqi Cultural Centre in London.

[13] Al-Ru’yah al-Jadida represented a freer art style which encouraged artists to remain true to their own era., but also to look to heritage and tradition for inspiration.

[15] He was also a member of the group One Dimension founded by Shakir Hassan Al Said, which rejected the earlier modern Arab art movement as being too concerned with European techniques and aesthetics.

He shut himself away in his home for several months, concentrating on his art and producing a series of works, including the Balad Al Sawad [Country of Blackness] series of "violently drawn images of terrified, crying and screaming faces, haunting images of despair.

His piece, My Broken Dream , a colossal monochromatic work, four meters in height and ten in length, is an assemblage of shapes, limps and swords, and it is an attempt to document a peoples pain, and in the written statement of the artwork, he writes, “Iraq is my inner soul."

One example, The Land of Sad Oranges, is a set of black and white drawings consisting of faceless heads and limp bodies, based on the short story of the same name by Palestinian writer, Ghassan Kanafani.

[25] The art historian, Nada Shabout, has classified Dia Azzawi's work as belonging to the School of Calligraphic Art (also known as the Hurufiyya movement) using a style termed calligraphic combinations,[26] which means that he combines abstract, freeform and classical styles.

A private Iraqi seller, offered The Lost City, for sale with a $50,000 price tag, to a gallery in 2011, in spite of the fact that it was listed by Interpol as a stolen artwork.

With the assistance of the gallery, US Embassy in Baghdad, Interpol and the FBI, the work was eventually recovered and returned to the rightful owner, the Iraq National Museum of Modern Art.