In the year of Amsterdam’s 750th anniversary, the City Museum launched the Vrouwen van Amsterdam – Een Ode* initiative honouring the women who have influenced the town. An exhibition reveals women with unique stories who bring their culture, experiences, and dreams to the city.

Inspired by this, I created Vrouwen van Oost**, a project that highlights women who often remain out of public view but quietly shape everyday life in the community.
Together with my parents, Geheugen van Oost, I organised a series of workshops that culminated in an interactive exhibition. During these sessions, daughters interviewed their mothers, grandmothers, or neighbours about their lives in Amsterdam East. They gathered photographs from personal archives—images from home, cherished objects—and transformed them into short audio-visual narratives.

Thirty young participants produced twenty-six mini-exhibitions – intimate windows into their mothers’ worlds. These stories were later displayed on three interactive screens in the neighbourhood, where passersby could explore them using a QR code. The Pop-Up galleries fostered connection, empathy, and recognition for women whose contributions often go unseen. Their care and perseverance form an essential part of the city’s living memory.

In 2026, the initiative will expand to other neighbourhoods, including De Baarsjes and Nieuw-West.
We hope that the most compelling stories will be featured on an interactive screen in the renewed Amsterdam Museum, as part of “ Een Oda” permanent exhibition.

The project is supported by Fonds voor Cultuurparticipatie and the Municipality of Amsterdam.

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* Vrouwen van Amsterdam – Een Ode – “An Odе for the Amsterdam’s women”

** Vorowen van Oost – “The women from East” in English