FEZ, Morocco — On Feb. 26, 2015, the Islamic State (IS) released a shocking video of its militants' purportedly taking hammers to ancient, centuries-old statues at the Iraqi Mosul Museum. Though onlookers have since questioned the clip’s veracity, today its images of pixelated destruction warn of extremism’s capacity to dismantle — and exploit — artistic heritage in the region.
This January, a group of artists have been coming together to generate strategies for a counterattack: one that points creativity to a social purpose and that fights fire with artistic expression.