Sans Papiers
Hilde De Windt
Sans Papiers
Hilde De Windt
“ Men have been moving for ages. But it has become harder: men have built frontiers and borders. You can’t go where you want. Life is simple, but we made it complicated.� Mohammed, 33 Born in Morocco, without documents in Europe.
Residence Leopold II
“Sans papiers” literally means “without papers, without documents”. As a name, it is a French slang expression used for people without documents. “Sans Papiers” is widely used in Belgium as an alternative for the “illegals”. EU organizations are campaigning to ban the term “illegal” in the sense of “people without documents”, because nobody is illegal. The occupiers in Brussels call themselves “La Voix des Sans Papiers”. In Brussels the expression also has a sympathetic connotation. Hilde De Windt was born in Brussels, Belgium (in 1961). Working as a journalist for the Belgian Flemish Public Television and Radio for many years, she has been working on photographic projects since 2006. She is fascinated by time and identity, especially the relationship between both phenomena. Photography helps her to understand. In her work she is focussing on key moments in life, told by small gestures. She has been documenting the complex and mega diverse culture in her hometown Brussels. Her work has been exhibited in Brussels and The Hague.
“Sans Papiers” Hilde De Windt
Thousands of refugees are drowning while escaping the horror in their native countries, on their way to a “better” life. Their despair gobbled by the sea. Lampedusa revisited, time and again. A lot of the “illegal” immigrants are economic migrants who want to escape the poverty in their countries. Others are refugees who have not been granted asylum. They fled from war and all kinds of terror. Amongst them the most vulnerable members of society, but also bright, strong and well educated people. Whoever sets foot on European ground is often not better off. Without documents, they find themselves in no-man’s land. Often waiting for an official status, an appeal, or hanging around with an order to leave the territory. Going back to where they came from is – at least at that moment – not an option. What they have experienced there, for diverse reasons, is a black hole they never want to jump in again. Even the streets here are better. According to rough estimates – there are no official statistics – 200,000 people without documents are living “illegally” in Belgium, about 150,000 in The Netherlands. Their existence is officially denied, yet they live, work (illegally) and consume. There are no studies about their possible economic “return”. They are cut off from their past. But they have no future either. Time has become a non-phenomenon; no backwards, no forwards. No-man’s land, no-man’s time. About a year ago I discovered a former retirement home in Brussels where more than 200 people without documents are living. Their main goal was an occupation to protest against their devastating situation. Many of them have been living in Belgium for a long time, and even longer in Europe. Their stories are diverse, their pathways are different. They all want a chance for a better life. The 200 people in the Brussels squat are trying to make the former nursing home theirs, for the time being. When I first went there, I felt I had lifted a trapdoor. From underground another world popped up, with shadows, human beings, walking and living amongst us, without us even being conscious of it. From then on I have been photographing what I felt: a world full of real people to whom full access is denied. You can give them a hand, but it is impossible to hold their hands. Whatever you would like to promise them is hard to realize. In this work I want to convey this other world within ours, full of people whose existence is simply not taken into account. Waiting for documents is their core business. Because without documents life is a shadow. Paper is the glass ceiling between them and us.
Residence Leopold II Hilde De Windt
The Brussels house where the “Sans Papiers” found a temporary residence, is a period mansion. It was converted into a retirement home, but the organization went broke in 2013. The property was left empty. In June 2014 the group “La Voix des Sans Papiers” occupied the building. They started with 20 people, but after a while there were 230 of them living together. “La Voix des Sans Papiers” immediately made a gentlemen’s agreement with the city council of Molenbeek (Brussels), engaging themselves to keep the area safe and clean. At the time of writing, the occupation prevails. How much longer they can stay there is not clear. The house is situated on the “Boulevard Leopold II”. This is one of the main roads of Brussels, connecting the ring roads, and splitting the west side of the city into two areas. The Belgian King Leopold II built the “boulevard” in the 19th century, inspired by the urban splendor of Paris, connecting the majestic basilica of Koekelberg with the famous Botanical Gardens in the upper-class city part. The boulevard was thus named after him. King Leopold II redrew the arcitecture of the city in a definitive way. He was famous for his grand vision of urbanism, but also for his brutal way of controlling Congo. King Leopold II first conquered Congo as a personal province, later on he donated the land to the Belgian state as a colony. This period belongs to the darker side of Belgian history. In the 1980’s a tunnel and a metro line were constructed under the boulevard. Its importance as a main road rose, but on ground level the boulevard had lost its glamour and became a busy ugly road with dense traffic. This part of greater Brussels had become industrial at the beginning of the 20th century, especially in the canal area. In the seventies many immigrants from Maghreb countries settled down in this area. After all, however, the city borough Molenbeek has always been a place for immigrants, be it from the Flemish countryside, or the Walloon Ardennes, or from anywhere else in the world. The area is now the subject of a revitalisation project, “Round Leopold II”. New houses are being built. The municipality wants to upgrade the image of the area, and faces a lot of sociological and economic challenges. It is precisely in these surroudings, iconic for the mega diversity in Brussels, that the “Sans Papiers” have found a shelter. However “illegal”, they are quietly tolerated. Most of the occupants are of African origin. Is it the irony of fate, which made them land in a property named “Résidence Leopold II”?
This publication was made as a part of my graduation project at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague, June 2015.
Thank you for the support in this project: Mohamed, Assiatou, Milanzh, Mariam, Mariam, Amie, Samba, Brahim, Djen, Youssouf, Abou, Mohamed, Olga, Abdul, Mohamed and all the other Sans Papiers Vincent van Baar, Hans van der Meer, Judith van IJken, Pawel Pokutycki, Ton van Kints, Leo Erken, Jan Frederik Groot, Ingrid Grootes, Gunhild Ang, Sam Otte, Wendy Bos, Elske Verdoorn, Jacob Gensink, Mirjam Devriendt, Lynn Raeymakers, Leen Vermeylen, Anita Lensink, Pete Andrews, Els Verhaegen, Koen Vidal, Henok Kokobe, Marie Pien, Bep Vermeylen, Phara de Aguirre, Christina Vandekelder, Marc Appeltans, Kris Campo, Maarten Goossens, Katleen Willems, my family and Wouter De Bruycker
Colophon Photography, text & edit
Hilde De Windt
Design & layout
Anita Lensink
Printed by Jubels, Amsterdam, on Munken Lynx paper Pre publication in a limited edition numbered (1-30) and signed with an original numbered and signed A4 photo print.
ŠH ilde De Windt Poppy Books 2015