Illegal Beauty wants to bring to surface the people behind the label. People without legal residency are labelled as "illegal" and are associated with criminals or people who take advantage of law. This idea has become mainstream in current policies and media. Social organizations have often reacted to this with other labels, such as victims or unfortunates. Both these terms characterize these people and pigeon hold them into neatly objectified groups: the subject is labelled and is therefore eligible for exhale or a polemic. The person becomes a thing, a ‘theme', a problem, which is kept subdued.

By constantly approaching this subject with the term ‘illegal', or by looking at the situation of these people as a problem, the danger of imposing a negative self-image on people is quite real. These humans will be de-fragmented into pacified objects. That is why there should be a more active stance towards the potential and the beauty that people have, something which is necessary for empowerment. What is always under-represented or forgotten is the potential behind cultural diversity, combining rich knowledge and vernacular skill capacity, which these people have to offer – this is main to the Illegal Beauty project. To emphasize this, to let people use their capacities will allow them to be equal players in social interaction and not some misfit dependant on constant support, at the same time this opens economic possibilities and brings vision and development to local culture. A product of culture is exactly what the term implies, a product made independently, regardless of the legal status of its creator. The question is how can a product of culture be illegal?