1978
gelatin silver print, 24 x 30 cm,
two artist`s stamps, "Sociological Record A.D. 1978-1988, Podhale"
stamp and description "Łapsze" on the reverse,
vintage print

The Sociological Record is Rydet`s opus magnum consisting of portraits showing urban and rural residents from many Polish and foreign regions. The artist started to photograph in her home region of Podhale. The work shown here is one of the best-known images in the series. Rydet labelled it as "Podhale", but the negative suggests that it was taken in Silesia. With time, the body of work grew to comprise photographs from the regions of Rzeszów, Suwałki and many other areas. Over more than ten years, she produced several dozen thousand negatives, which are currently being catalogued by the Zofia Rydet Foundation in partnership with Fundacja Sztuk Wizualnych, the Museum in Gliwice, and Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.
The series has been widely exhibited at solo and group shows, including: Sociological Record 1978-1990, Starmach Gallery, Cracow (2008), Czytelnia Sztuki, Gliwice (2012), National Museum in Gdańsk (2015).