With Love Not For Love

In a country that keeps 1% of its population illegal as an exploited labor force, a collective of proud undocumented women has launched an election campaign, La Candidate Sans-Papiers, in a flamboyant act of protest and institutional reinvention. More often laboring in Belgian households than in their own, poorly paid or unpaid, these women provide care for the elderly and the sick, look after children, and maintain households and offices. This “labor of love” carries the ambiguous promise of access to legal status, while raising a fundamental question: who takes care of those who take care of our society? La Candidate Sans-Papiers is a détourned fashion show featuring a series of models on a catwalk, each highlighting a different form of oppression. Together, they call for an inalienable right to a more dignified life through witty and moving acts of political expression. This festive moment is part of a longer trajectory co-facilitated by Brussels-based artist Anna Rispoli and queer theorist and activist Nina Ferrante with local and international collectives of migrant women. Their process is grounded in sharing political tools, artistic methodologies, mutual support, and feminist joy. Manifesting at the Commune de Forest, La Candidate calls on our allyship, more urgent than ever, at a time when anti-immigration policies are tightening under a fascist grip.