RECOMMENDED: Zofia Rydet: Sociological Record (1978 – 1990) exhibition / 2025.10.10. - 2026.02.22. 📷 🇵🇱

This landmark photographic project by Zofia Rydet is a sweepingly comprehensive documentary portrait of Polish domestic life which spans decades, eras, regions and cultures. In 1997, the Sociological Record had come to encompass some 16,000 negatives.

„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 – Sociological Record – is a monumental project and one of the most important achievements in 20th century Polish photography. She used photography to express everyday stories and capture the essence of what it meant to be human. Despite the project’s epic scope, the individual portraits often feel intimate and revealing. Her careful and considered practice spans decades.
  
Totalling nearly 20,000 negatives, only a fraction of the Sociological Record images were printed in Rydet’s lifetime. Over 100 prints are on show at The Photographers' Gallery, alongside books and personal letters.

Zofia Rydet: Sociological Record is part of the UK/Poland Season 2025. It is co-curated by Karol Hordziej and Clare Grafik. It is produced by The Photographers’ Gallery in partnership with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and the Zofia Rydet Foundation.” - phmuseum.com

 

Illustration: thephotographersgallery.org.uk