ARTISTS
Zofia Rydet: Sociological Record
From 1978, when she was 67, Zofia Rydet (1911-1997) set out to photograph the inside of every Polish household. She would approach a home unannounced, knock, and warmly introduce herself and ask the people living there if they would like to take part in her project.鈥�
Rydet was always on the road, with a camera in her hand. For nearly three decades, she photographed people in their homes, still lives, building exteriors and landscapes. She also returned to the same houses several years after she first visited to document the transformation of rural Poland. The result 鈥� Sociological Record 鈥� is a monumental project and one of the most important achievements in 20th century Polish photography.
Rydet used photography to express everyday stories and capture the essence of what it meant to be human. Despite the project鈥檚 epic scope, the individual portraits often feel intimate and revealing.鈥疕er careful and considered practice spans decades and she worked on the project until her death in 1997. 鈥�
Totalling nearly 20,000 negatives, only a fraction of the Sociological Record images were printed in Rydet鈥檚 lifetime. Over 100 prints will be on show at The Photographers' Gallery, alongside books and personal letters.
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From 1978, when she was 67, Zofia Rydet (1911-1997) set out to photograph the inside of every Polish household. She would approach a home unannounced, knock, and warmly introduce herself and ask the people living there if they would like to take part in her project.鈥�
Rydet was always on the road, with a camera in her hand. For nearly three decades, she photographed people in their homes, still lives, building exteriors and landscapes. She also returned to the same houses several years after she first visited to document the transformation of rural Poland. The result 鈥� Sociological Record 鈥� is a monumental project and one of the most important achievements in 20th century Polish photography.
Rydet used photography to express everyday stories and capture the essence of what it meant to be human. Despite the project鈥檚 epic scope, the individual portraits often feel intimate and revealing.鈥疕er careful and considered practice spans decades and she worked on the project until her death in 1997. 鈥�
Totalling nearly 20,000 negatives, only a fraction of the Sociological Record images were printed in Rydet鈥檚 lifetime. Over 100 prints will be on show at The Photographers' Gallery, alongside books and personal letters.
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From 1979 to 1990, Zofia Rydet set out to photograph the inside of 鈥榚very鈥� Polish household, capturing rich personal histories and lives in challenging flux.
In 1978, Zofia Rydet was 67 years old. By this time, she was already an established photographer. She鈥檇 been a member of the Gliwice Photographic Society for almost 25 years, presented two major exhibitions and, in 1976.
Zofia Rydet took 20,000 images over 20 years for the mammoth sociological project.
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