Imazi.Reine founder Fatima-Zohra talks about building communities and decolonial feminism.

May 5, 2021

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min read

Fatima-Zohra Ait El Maâti is the leader of the Belgian feminist 2.0 and inclusive collective Imazi.Reine. She raises social awareness through social media and creates safe spaces for women of color to express themselves. She organizes a community where members can rely on each other to find comfort and solutions for their traumas.

“Seeing women of color draw strength from sharing their stories often leads to finding solutions, sometimes even political ones.” — Fatima-Zohra, Founder of Imazi.Reine

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Inspired by women to inspire women

Born in Morocco and raised in Belgium, Fatima-Zohra studied Architecture and Sociology. Despite having no prior experience in filmmaking, she released her short film “My Grandmother is Not a Feminist” in 2019. The film sparked discussions and led audiences to recognize Fatima as an activist. The documentary explores femininity, sexuality, immigration, and decolonization through a conversation between Fatima and her grandmother.

I was born into a family of very strong women, and I never doubted it. It's as if I inherited these feminine values in my family without using the word 'feminist'; I've always felt these things.

The documentary also highlights how Fatima-Zohra was raised as an Amazigh Muslim woman. The Amazigh are an indigenous ethnic group from North Africa. In Tamazight (Berber), they are called Imazighen or IMAZI.REINE, which inspired Fatima to name her feminist collective accordingly.

A safe space to gather, fight, and heal

On one hand, Imazi.Reine is a movement that values inclusivity, feminism 2.0, anti-racism, and decolonization. On the other, it's a safe space where women of color can trust each other by sharing their stories both online and offline as intimate sisters. Fatima-Zohra explains that she needed this collective as much as the rest of her community:

There's power in simply coming together and talking with people who are going through the same experiences.

In this interview, Fatima shares how she uses social media and her community to raise social awareness. One goal of the collective is to dismantle negative stereotypes and racist misconceptions about Muslim women of color.

The success of the #HijabisFightBack campaign—co-organized by Imazi.Reine against the hijab ban in schools and universities—is another example of Fatima-Zohra's fight for decolonial feminism. She also explains how she organizes online and offline communities inclusively with women of color from the African diaspora, especially around mental health.

To discover more about her thoughts and initiatives supporting women of color, watch the full interview on our IGTV. This exclusive video is the third episode in a series featuring influencers using social media to raise awareness about social issues. All interviews were conducted under COVID-19 safety measures and recorded at the temporary occupation BARA 142 (Status).

‍Direction & Photography: Helena Verheyen//Interview & Video: Paul-Henri Yuma//Main Photo: Loic Meulenberg//Editor in Chief: Tim Vanhaecke

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