A checkpoint in the town of Ras Lanuf, outside the town's oil refinery.
Yuri Kozyrev / NOOR for Time
Iman al-Mughrabi, a prominent Islamic scholar, addresses a crowd of mostly men after a Friday prayer in front of Benghazi's central courthouse.
Yuri Kozyrev / NOOR for Time
Ahmed Bushnaf sits on the curb outside his home in Sirte, the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi's hometown.
Yuri Kozyrev / NOOR for Time
Misrata's largest prison houses some 860 prisoners of war, most of them captured from stronghold towns of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Yuri Kozyrev / NOOR for Time
Tawergha was a pro-Gaddafi town that participated in the violent assault on the nearby rebel stronghold of Misrata. Reconciliation between it's people expemplifies the challenges of getting the winners and losers of Libya's war to get along in the new state.
Yuri Kozyrev / NOOR for Time
Schoolchildren gather in their Middle School courtyard in the eastern Libyan town of Darnah before starting their morning classes.
Yuri Kozyrev / NOOR for Time
Tripoli Street in Misrata.
Yuri Kozyrev / NOOR for Time
Graffiti on the inner wall of a home in Sirte reads "Ali took revenge. See you later."
Yuri Kozyrev / NOOR for Time
A Libyan man inside of his ruined apartment as the result of heavy shelling.
Yuri Kozyrev / NOOR for Time
The families of Libyans who were killed accidentally during a NATO airstrike in Tripoli last June protest outside of the interim Prime Minister's office in the Libyan capital.
Yuri Kozyrev / NOOR for Time
Hanan al-Magwb, 30, hits her guests with hardball questions about Libya's upcoming elections on a weeknight airing of "Listen To Us", her evening news show on Libya Youth FM, broadcast out of Benghazi.
Yuri Kozyrev / NOOR for Time
Mohamed, a schoolteacher, prays at dusk on the rooftop of his friend's war-ravaged house in the coastal city of Sirte.
Yuri Kozyrev / NOOR for Time
Haroun Milad, 12, and his brother Moussa, 14, survey the wreckage of Gaddafi?s once impenetrable residential compound, Bab al-Aziziya, in Tripoli.
Yuri Kozyrev / NOOR for Time
Visitors outside the newly-opened museum in Misrata. The Ali Hassan Jaber Martyr Exhbit is named for an Al-Jazeera cameraman who was killed covering Libya's revolution.
Yuri Kozyrev / NOOR for Time
Reem is a Syrian refugee from Homs standing on Libya's coast, looking out at the calm Mediterranean Sea.
Yuri Kozyrev / NOOR for Time
Museums have been erected to commemorate the battles fought and the martyrs lost. Schools are back in session—even the shell-shocked ones. Hundreds of former rebels are training to join the new national army. People are even talking about tourism and business.
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Women are discussing women’s rights and lecturing men on politics—a newfound agency that they’ve capitalized on since the revolution. Where the weak transitional government is failing, ordinary citizens are helping one another rebuild. Young people are getting creative. All this induces optimism; optimism of the wild, determined sort. Libya is set to hold its first democratic election in July. No one knows how many bumps lie in the road up ahead. But despite all those challenges, and the years of heartbreak behind them, the Libyans seem hopeful. (All Images by Yuri Kozyrev / NOOR for Time)
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You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.