In a society without any safety nets, a person’s already strained financial situation could collapse in case of illness or unemployment. Many of the women in the police’s archives were vulnerable, lived in poverty, and ended up at odds with society’s rules. They could have engaged in prostitution, petty theft or burglary – or simply classified as vagrants.

When looking at these police photographs, we meet people who have rarely played a major part in history. Still, they left a mark – stories that are a part of our shared history. Hundreds of thousands of people, documented using photography, fingerprints, and biographical facts.

The exhibition Captured – The Woman Behind the Crime is an adaptation of Polismuseet’s exhibition Trigger. We highlight the women’s perspective and have created a space where their lives and their stories are front and center.

For children

In this exhibition there is a children’s activity for ages 9-12. Find out why gang leader Morsan got in trouble, try to find the thief at the market, and investigate what Ester packed for her long journey to America!

Find the pictures and look behind them to learn more! (In Swedish only).

about the exhibition

The exhibition is based on Trigger, produced by Polismuseet.
Graphic design for Trigger at Polismuseet by Susanne Kassel, Sinfo Yra. Adapted to Captured – The Woman Behind the Crime by The Museum of Women’s History, Umeå.
Illustrations for the children’s activity by Elin Hägg.
The photographs in the exhibition are from Polismuseet, Stockholm city archive and the National archive.