MARTA MALASPINA

It was August 6, 2014, when thousands of families were forced to flee from the main Christian town in the middle of the Nineveh Plain, Qaraqosh, just a few miles from Mosul. In one night, they left everything behind to survive while Daesh (ISIS) was advancing to conquer the area.

During the occupation, the militants vandalized many buildings with graffiti and slogans praising ISIL.

In October 2016, with the launch of the Mosul offensive against Daesh, Qaraqosh was one of the first cities to be liberated.

Despite the devastation wreaked upon the city, its inhabitants have not lost the desire to return to their abandoned homes. It is against this backdrop of death, violence, and destruction that a beautiful initiative has been taking form at the hands of a group of Iraqi artists from Baghdad.

"Color Fingerprint" is this initiative, and artist Thabet Mikhael is leading the way.

The group of activists gathers every week in Qaraqosh; they clean the city walls and replace Daesh's writings with graffiti and artwork.

"We love death, you love life" Daesh militants wrote on the houses.

In contrast, these activists have decided to join forces to sweep away all of the devastations that offends the beauty of their land with shots of colors, brushes and beautiful designs of peace.