In Saddie Choua’s practice, sisterhood operates as both method and political proposition. Her work traces how women with migration backgrounds—often positioned at the edges of dominant historical and cultural narratives—forge forms of solidarity, testimony, and mutual care. From De Dwaze Moeders and Het Maandblad voor de Allochtone Vrouw to the Salon of Fatima Mernissi at Villa Empain, Choua has consistently approached sisterhood as a space of collective agency and knowledge production.

A key reference for this trajectory is the legacy of the Three Marias—Maria Isabel Barreno, Maria Teresa Horta, and Maria Velho da Costa—who, under the Portuguese dictatorship, jointly authored Novas Cartas Portuguesas (1972). Their collaborative writing practice, conceived as an act of resistance, care, and feminist refusal, offers a point of departure for thinking through contemporary forms of collective cultural production. At a moment marked by genocide, displacement, and the persistence of colonial logics, the Three Marias invite us to ask what it means to gather, think, and make together.

The project emerges following Choua’s residency at Hunna Arts and Culture Center in Lebanon in the summer of 2026, where she participates in M/otherlands: Reimagining Care Across Borders, a residency programme for women and mother-artists that simultaneously supports families displaced by war. Building on this encounter, NW enters into an ongoing relationship of exchange and solidarity with Hunna.

The Three Marias / The Three Saïdas brings together a group of women with migration backgrounds who meet at NW every two months around a film, book, or text. Their conversations are documented, reflected upon, and shared through a collectively developed archive. Monthly public gatherings extend the project beyond the group itself, creating a space for exchange, visibility, and collective reflection. The trajectory is developed in collaboration with Be-Part, ROBIN, and RITCS.

The first public gathering takes place on 20 June 2026 as part of All Eyes On… Saddie Choua, a conversation on sisterhood in times of crisis.