Zofia Rydet

This exhibition offers a glimpse into the monumental photographic project, the Sociological Record (Zapis socjologiczny), by Polish photographer Zofia Rydet (1911-1997).

Rydet began working on this series in 1978, at the age of 67, when she was already an artist with a well-established reputation. She was fascinated in the home as a metaphor for human life and interested in the ways domestic interiors reflected personal aesthetic, religious and political views. Initially photographing in Poland, in the regions of Podhale, Upper Silesia, and around Suwałki, the project was later extended beyond the country's borders to Lithuania, Germany, France and the United States.

Over time, the Record grew into a multifaceted work and developed into a number of subcategories and independent series, such as Women on Doorsteps, the Myth of Photography, Windows, Professions and Presence. Although the work does include residents in towns and cities, most of the photographs focused on rural areas where she witnessed traditional ways of life and folk culture fast disappearing.

The Sociological Record would eventually span over 12 years from 1978 to 1990, becoming an increasing obsession for Rydet as she approached the end of her life. It includes over 20,000 images taken in more than 200 provinces of Poland and abroad. By the mid-1980s, Rydet's drive to document her subjects left no time to print in the darkroom.

This exhibition focuses on the relatively rare number of prints the artist made in her lifetime and is the first based on vintage works from the series held in the archives of the Zofia Rydet Foundation in Kraków.