The female faces of rebellion

Noord-Hollands Archief, Haarlem (NL), 2021

Female resistance fighters feature a lot less often in written history than male ones. The Noord-Hollands Archief shows us their faces.

Lifelike portraits

On entering the exhibition, visitors come face to face with dozens of rebel women. The colourised portraits are so lifelike, looking at them is like gazing into the eyes of living human beings.

The exhibition uses personal items, photographs and audio stories to explain various forms of resistance, such as armed resistance, Jewish resistance and courier work. The display brings the women’s experiences closer than ever.

From concept to exhibition

The archive wanted to build a new permanent exhibition focusing on female resistance fighters. Studio Louter and Todd van Hulzen Design helped to formulate the concept for the grant application and then to create the exhibition itself.

“We’ve given these women faces.”

Mart van der Wiel, project manager Noord-Hollands Archief, NH Nieuws — 29 November 2021