Gertrud
Maja Daniels
In 1667, a 12-year-old girl, Gertrud Svensdotter, was accused of walking on water in Älvdalen, Sweden. This event marked the beginning of the swedish witch-hunts. A period of mass hysteria and horror in Älvdalen and its neighbouring regions. It also ended the Sami way of life. A world where humans and nature live in harmony. But Swedification and Christianization kicked in. Capitalism turned humans, animals and nature into resources.
Maja Daniels (born 1985) is a Swedish photography-based artist. Her work centers on history, memory, and how these notions affect our view of the present. She grew up hearing her grandmother speak of the stories surrounding Gertrud Svensdotter. The resulting witch trials claimed the lives of over 300 people across eight years. Centuries later thes events seems almost incomprehensible to modern sensibilities. But witch hunts still occur today.
Daniels created most of the photographs in Gertrud through interventions in the landscape and a cast of characters. Her work shows forests as places of stories, myth and magic. Interspersed with Daniel’s photographs are those from the archive of Tenn Lars Persson (1878 – 1938). Daniels’ wildlife photography and atmospheric portraits combined with stunning archive images are both frightening and mesmerizing, immersing you in a space of myth and magic.
Gertrud
Photographer: Maja Daniels
Published by VOID
Published in 2024
Cloth Quarterbound + Foiled Hardcover
23 x 28,4 cm, 168 pages
Chosen by people immersed in the photobook world as one of their favorite photobooks of 2024