In 1486, two well-respected German Catholic clergymen published a book called the Malleus Maleficarum. Translated as the ‘Hammer of Witches’, the volume was widely regarded as the standard handbook of witchcraft and heresy until well into the 18th century. The legal and theological document fueled the hysteria surrounding the idea of dark magic that had begun to circulate across Europe. For more than 100 years it was the most popular book sold across the continent, except the Bible, and in the years between 1500 and 1660, up to 80,000 suspected witches were put to death. Those most often in the line of questioning were women living on the fringes of society, often single or widows. In 1667, a 12-year-old girl living in rural Sweden was accused of walking on water. Her subsequent admission of guilt would usher in almost a decade of frantic witch-hunts and executions. Artist Maja Daniels was raised in the area these trials began, and her new publication Gertrud seeks to use photography to reconfigure the history and myths surrounding the events. Her haunting images bring rural isolation and paranoia into the modern era, igniting contemporary dialogues around misogyny and female rights.
Daniels’ book begins by setting a captivating scene. Her black-and-white images show stormy skies and spindly trees. Young girls hold hands, play with feathers, stare directly into the camera. It is not difficult to image life in a place cut off by vast swathes of empty land and extreme weather that could change in a heartbeat. As we consider the images, the 400-year distance between the viewer and 12-year-old Gertrud Svendotter seems to shrink. The young girl moved to Älvdalen to live with relatives and was soon employed tending a herd of sheep with local boy, Mats Nilsson. The two got into a fight and Nilsson claimed that he’d seen Gertrud walk on water. She was interrogated by a local priest, who encouraged her to confess and confirm that it was the work of the devil. After much questioning, the child said that a neighbouring maid, Märet Jonsdotter, had taken her to the Devil. This moment marked the beginning of the Mora witch trials, of which Jonsdotter would be the first victim. This trial, in 1668, saw 17 people sentenced to death for having abducted children to Satan. The young people, alleged victims and witnesses, were also punished for their part in the evil with 148 sentenced to whipping or running the gauntlet. Yet this was only the beginning, as ‘the Great Noise’ began to spread across Sweden.
It is impossible to read Daniels’ book, or to fully comprehend the realities of the Swedish witch trials, without understanding the key role of gender. Throughout the publication, women are a constant presence, from small girls playing in fields and posing for sombre portraits, to elderly women wrapped in shawls tending to the land. As the book reaches its peak, the images turn to colour and the pages are encased by glowing, flickering golden flames. It is in these images that we catch a glimpse of male figures, their features cast in shadows. Here, we are reminded of the way in which gender often sealed a person’s fate as the brunt of the hysteria was directed at women. The worst of the persecutions during the ‘Great Noise’ happened in Torsåker, a rural area which saw 71 people executed in one day. Of these, 65 were women and only six men. In the years between 1500 and 1660, it is estimated that 80% of those put to death across Europe were female. It is a fact that Daniels’ refuses to allow us to forget.
The ancient colliding with the contemporary is at the heart of Älvdalen. The village still has its own language, Elfdalian, which has been traced back to Old Norse. In 1926, the yearbook of Swedish Tourism Association described it as “a community with a dark insular spirit” where locals were “shadowed by distrust and unease.” Daniels’ images echo this feeling of something ancient and sinister lurking behind every barren tree, each isolated house. The photographs were created through the artists’ interventions in the local forest, using the landscape where she has family ties to inspire the narrative. She herself grew up hearing her grandmother speak of the stories surrounding Gertrud Svendotter. This mix of the historical and the modern is palpable throughout and is deepened by the integration of pictures taken by Tenn Lars Persson (1878-1938), a local eccentric who captured the area throughout their entire life. This is a book creates myths, using ethereal imagery to distort the viewer, unsettling ideas around place and linear time. Yet, at the time time, it breaks down these myths, deconstructing historical ideas of witchcraft and magic and reminding the reader that real lives are at the centre of these legends.
Gertrud is published by VOID books: void.photo
Words: Emma Jacob
All images:
Untitled from Gertrud © Maja Daniels
