Zofia Rydet

The photographs are predominantly portraits of children, men, women, couples, families and the elderly amidst their belongings. Rydet tended to photograph her subjects straight-on, using a wide-angle lens and a flash.

Rydet was born in Stanisławów. She attended the Główna Szkoła Gospodarcza Żeńska in Snopków. As a young woman she had a number of occupations such as working for the Orbis Polish Travel Office and running a stationery shop. In mid-life she returned to her hobby of photography. She joined the Gliwice Photographic Society in 1954 and improved her skills.

In 1961 Rydet had a major exhibition of photographs called Mały człowiek (Little Man). Rydet's intention for Little Man, was to show that children had good and bad experiences in their life, just like adults. She also wanted to depict how societal issues and policies can affect children. Rydet did not want to show children as a carefree stereotype, but rather as human. In 1965 the works in this exhibition were collected into a book edited by Wojciech Zamecznik. The same year she became a member of the Union of Polish Art Photographers. In Czas przemijania (The Passage of Time, 1963-1977), Rydet portrays the dignity and grace of old age in a series of intimate portraits. In 1976, Rydet was awarded the Excellence de la Fédération Internationale de l´Art Photographique (EFIAP). In 1978, Rydet began her work on "Zapis Socjologiczny" ("Sociological Record"). The project consists of thousands of informal black and white photographs taken in ordinary households throughout Poland, particularly from the regions of Podhale, Upper Silesia and the Suwałki area. During the final years of her life, because she was too weak to travel with her camera, Rydet turned to photographic collage as a medium, and modified her photographs by cutting them up and adding buttons, fabric, and dried flowers. Rydet died in Gliwice on August 24, 1997.