I remember carrying my rifle and asking myself "will I survive this war and come back to Raqqa to finally paint in the square which has become infamous for being the site of the Islamic State's beheadings?." These were the words that Sama Kobani told Qabas, while carrying her brushes with a wide smile, the very same brushes that she kept in close proximity while she was fighting IS just two months ago.

Sama is a 26-year-old daughter of Raqqa who fought IS with dozens of women from northern Syria in the hopes of liberating her city. For Sama to have joined an all-female Kurdish battalion -- the YPJ -- would have been unthinkable less than a decade ago. But Syria has been transformed over the past seven years in its relentless civil war, and women have been at the frontlines in the battle against IS.

Raqqa is now freed from IS, and Sama -- who helped make this possible -- has converged with a number of other artists to form an art installation at Naim Square. Naim Square, the once notorious symbol of IS executions and murder, has been transformed with the paintings of Sama and her contemporaries. As I witnessed her producing a painting in her "art against war" exhibition, I was struck by a certain aspect of her style, for the colour black was dominated in her work. "How can you, as an artist, reconcile two contradictory things: art and war? Is that possible?" I asked her.

She sighed deeply, briefly stopped painting, and told me: "during all these years that we went through, everything is possible. Was it ever believable that IS was decapitating heads on this very square? No, never. it is unbelievable, and such painful scenes cannot be imagined for those who didn't see them. So given these circumstances, I decided to take up arms."

"It is true that I am an artist, but when my being is under threat, first because my people are threatened, and secondly because I am also threatened as a woman, I will take up arms and fight. In this case, refusing to fight shows a capacity for not having feelings, and it is commonly known that feeling is the basis of art."

We arrived in Raqqa earlier in the day, and the neighbourhoods surrounding the city center were not completely decimated. People were busy repairing their homes and everyone was doing their best to clean the streets from any remnants of war. People have a genuine hope that their city could be even more beautiful than it was before. So far, the process of rebuilding the city has not commenced with full seriousness, although the Raqqa Civil Council has, with all of its energy, attempted to remove the rubble outside the city. It's a great first step, but not enough for a city as large as Raqqa, of which 70 percent is devastated.

This is what "Art Against War" represents, in the paintings of Sama and her comrades, there is the deep yearning for an end to the war and a return of love and peace. Sama confirms that the new year will bring with it new hopes. Displacement will stop, and woman will finally have a say in the future of this country.



*This article was translated by Cihad Hammy and first appeared in Qabas.