Sociological Record
October 10, 2025–February 22, 2026
From October 10, The Photographers' Gallery in London will show Polish artist Zofia Rydet’s landmark photographic project, Sociological Record for the first time in the United Kingdom. The exhibition is produced by The Photographers’ Gallery in partnership with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and the Zofia Rydet Foundation and is part of UK/Poland Season 2025.
Sociological Record is a comprehensive documentation of everyday life in Polish homes, covering different decades, regions, and customs. This monumental work is one of the most important achievements of 20th-century Polish photography. It has been exhibited at venues such as MoMA and the International Center of Photography in New York, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.
Starting in 1978, aged 67 years old, Zofia Rydet (1911–1997) set out on a mammoth task to photograph the inside of ‘every’ Polish household. Motivated by a desire to capture the ordinary, unsung populations, particularly of the countryside–but also covering towns and cities–Rydet would become increasingly obsessed with her mission to record the cultures and people that she sought out.
Rydet cut an unlikely figure on her field trips to different regions, a diminutive woman travelling by bus or with the help of friends who could drive her. Approaching households unannounced, she would knock and warmly introduce herself, asking those living there if they would like to take part in her project. Using a newly acquired wide angle lens and flash, Rydet was able to capture often darkened interiors of homes and their inhabitants in detail. Asking her sitters not to smile and look straight ahead into the camera lens, her subjects are posed in their homes, rich in personal histories.
As the series progressed, Rydet would identify different categories within the Sociological Record such as ‘Women on Doorsteps’, ‘Professions’, ‘Road Signs’, ‘Windows’, ‘Houses’ and ‘Televisions’. She would also come to identify more philosophical themes such as ‘Presence’–noting the omnipresence of the Polish Pope John Paul II’s image (inaugurated the same year Rydet started the Record in 1978) within Polish households. Others included ‘The Myth of Photography’ focusing on the central position and significance of family photographs within the home, such as traditional, hand-painted studio photographs of married couples in homes with little or no other decoration.
The exhibition focuses on rare prints made by the artist in her home darkroom, including the important series People in Interiors and sub-series such as Women on Doorsteps and Presence. Archival materials will also be on display, as well as Andrzej Różycki's 1989 documentary film Infinity of Distant Roads. Overheard and Suspicious. Zofia Rydet A.D. 1989 and documentary portraits of Zofia Rydet at work by photographer Anna Beata Bohdziewicz.
The exhibition is accompanied by a new catalog in English, containing texts by Zofia Rydet and 100 photographs from Sociological Record. This is a joint project of The Photographers' Gallery and Palm* Studios, with the support of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. The selection of photographs is based on Wojciech Nowicki’s edition of the book Zofia Rydet. Record (Museum in Gliwice, 2016).
The exhibition is part of the UK/Poland Season 2025, which runs until November and is co-organized by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, the British Council, and the Polish Cultural Institute in London, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland.
For more information and to book tickets visit tpg.org.uk/zofiarydet
The Photographers’ Gallery is open everyday 10am–6pm, Thursday and Fridays 10am–8pm and Sundays 11am–6pm. Fridays entry is free from 5pm
