The Museli Marah: Drawing dreams out of pain

Shafaq News / In a sorrowful scene, 24-year-old Marah Shahab stands next to one of her paintings in an art exhibition held in the Faculty of Fine Arts at Mosul University.

Behind this painting is a story of pain and deprivation that she has experienced after losing 11 members of her family in the battle to liberate Mosul four years ago.

"My life was normal among my family. I love painting, and I started doing it when I was in middle school. But as soon as the terror occupied Mosul, life stopped", Marah told Shafaq News agency.

Marah was referring to ISIS's invasion of one-third of Iraq's territory, including Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city.

Freedom moment

Marah said that she was waiting with her family inside their home when Iraqi forces arrived to free them in 2017. Even amid the deafening roar of bullets and explosions, She and her family still had hope for freedom. However, everything changed in a moment and the house collapsed over the family due to a bombardment that rendered the house into a tomb.

After several attempts, Marah successfully pulled her mother and sister from the rubble, but the 11 other family members died under that debris.

Marah was slightly injured and her sister died shortly after being pulled from under the rubble. Her mother was hit by shrapnel in her abdomen and received treatment, but suffered partial hearing loss and lost her eyesight after small shrapnel settled inside one of her eyes.

Back to hobby

Marah is back to her hobby and trying to forget what happened, "It is very difficult. My father was my supporter and I was waiting for my little sister to grow up and become my friend. Today, I try to tell my story and illustrate the pain, loss, and deprivation that I experience in my paintings. I want to scream through the paintbrush. I cannot cry at home in front of my mother because she is sick and we cannot influence her mental state".

"I am trying to suppress my feelings for my mother and brother's sake. He dropped out of school to complete my studies and ruined his future to save my mother's treatment costs. This is my story with war and freedom", Marah added.