“When footage emerged of ISIS destroying the ancient city of Nimrud outside Mosul, the world stood powerless in the face of a group of militants using sledgehammers and electric drills to obliterate centuries-old archaeological gems. 

But 17-year-old Nenous Thabit rolled up his sleeves and began work on replicating the sculptures. "They waged a war on art and culture, so I decided to fight them with art,“ he says. He did so by sculpting immaculate statues that resembled some of the most precious Assyrian artifacts lost in Nimrud and other ancient areas in and around Mosul. 

In a modest apartment in the Kurdish city of Irbil, where Thabit and his family took refuge after fleeing Mosul, the young artist has meticulously carved 18 Assyrian statues and one mural over the past year.”