Het Witte Wieven Archief

The Wise Women Archive

Het Witte Wieven Archief is a collection of traces and places connected to the Witte Wieven: ghost-like women from Dutch folklore said to dwell in hills, swamps, and forests.

Het Witte Wieven Archief (2023-ongoing) is a growing collection of stories, places, and traces tied to the Witte Wieven: ghost-like women from Dutch folklore said to dwell in hills, swamps, and forests. Once seen as powerful and different- midwives, herbalists, wise women- their knowledge was forgotten, their names erased. Over time, they returned as legend, as mist, as a memory of what once was. This project began as a scavenger hunt- a way to return to the magic I believed in as a child. My grandparents told me stories of trolls, fairies, and ghosts from around the world- and they believed in them too. Later, I passed those stories on to my siblings, showing them the “evidence.” I wanted to see it for myself, to find places to escape to.

I move between belief and doubt, between the urge to prove and the need to preserve mystery. The Witte Wieven still resist explanation. Their presence lingers in stones, trees, water, and soil: witnesses of all that has passed. This archive traces their stories. To remember, to visit, and to protect what might still be hiding in plain sight.

And maybe to believe, just a little, again.

This project is funded by CBK Rotterdam, Amarte fonds & Rotterdam Photo