Word into Art Artists of the Modern Middle East

These pictures are from a stunning exhibition last summer at the British Museum "Word Into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East"
second is the entrance to the exhibition with a sculpture Heech in a cage 2005 by Parviz Tanavoli.
first is a column by Dia al Azzawi Blessed Tigris. A poem is inscribed on it by Muhammad Mahdi

I greet you from afar, O greet me back,

O blessed Tigris, river of gardens green.

I greet your banks, seeking to quench my thirst.

Like doves between water and clay aflutter seen.

O blessed Tigris, oft have I have been forced to leave

To drink from springs which didn’t my thirst relieve.

O blessed Tigris, what inflames your heart

Inflames me and what grieves you makes me grieve.

O wanderer, play with a gentle touch

Caress the lute softly and sing again

That you may sooth a volcano seething with rage

And pacify a heart burning with pain. ( translated by Hussein Hadawi).