we went to school here, to unerty.nd now, the city needs us reporter: these types of sitiveessages are what ali wants to send out to the world with his photographs. the era of hate and fear is over, for once and for all. mosul lives again. ali: da'esh murals used to attract young people to join them, attract people to kill, to purge the city of the minorities, to impose their point-of-view, their dark point-of-view. so, it is very important to paint that dark era with beautiful colors, yeah. reporter: but the wounds of the past are still far from being healed. ali also feels a deep sense of mistrust, wondering who may have sympathized or collaborated with i.s. he makes a statement on social media with his photos and his blog. he bieves at mosul is better than its image. ali: mosul is not isis. mosul has always been living in a co-existential way. i have christianrds, kurdish students. i have yezidi students. and nobody thought to put a finger on a hair of them. what happened was something exceptional, was something bru