Women Behind the Camera, 1848–1968

Group Exhibition

Black-and-white studio portrait from the early 1900s. A woman in a dark suit and a large flower-trimmed hat holds a parrot on her hand. In front of her, a long-haired dog sits on an ornate chair with floral upholstery. — Woman with dog and parrot, n.d. Värmland Museum. © Anna Ollson

They were pioneers, entrepreneurs, artists and documentary photographers. Yet many of them have all but disappeared from the history of Swedish photography.
On 5 December, Women Behind the Camera, 1848–1968 opens at Fotografiska. Spanning the earliest days of photography through to the fashion, documentary photography and artistic experimentation of the 1960s, the exhibition brings an extraordinary photographic legacy into view.

Fröken Andersson med barn vid pensionatet, Stora Björstorp, Undenäs, 1910. Västergötlands museum. © Dagmar Eriksén

Meet the women who ran their own studios as early as the 19th century, photographed royalty, captured a changing Sweden and paved the way for generations to come. Among them are Bertha Valerius, Sweden’s first female royal court photographer; Rosalie Sjöman, who built a successful studio staffed entirely by women; and Ida Ekelund, whose 8,000 forgotten negatives were discovered beneath the floorboards of her former studio.

Following its success at Hasselblad Center in Gothenburg, the exhibition now comes to Stockholm, reimagined for Fotografiska. Powerful images, remarkable lives and a side of Swedish photography that many of us have never encountered before.

This is no footnote in the history of photography. It’s a story that deserves to be seen.

Women Behind the Camera, 1848–1968 is produced by the Hasselblad Foundation. Curator: Dragana Vujanović Östlind, in collaboration with Eva Dahlman, Magnus Bremmer and Lena Wilhelmsson. Curatorial adaptation for Fotografiska Stockholm: Lisa Giomar Hydén.