Raster presents a dialogue between two recognized female artists from two generations: Zofia Rydet (1911-1997) and Aneta Grzeszykowska (b.1974). In their works a creative approach to the photographic medium merges with deep social and existential reflection. Both—Rydet’s photomontages and Grzeszykowska’s subversive self-portraits—focus on the image of the female body and engage in empathetic polemics with its various cultural roles. They play with the visual vocabulary of surrealism, infusing it with moving, contemporary content. Rydet’s work has been rediscovered through retrospective shows at MoMA Warsaw (2015) and Jeu de Paume in Tours (2017), while Grzeszykowska is exhibiting widely at major institutional shows, including the recent Venice Biennale (2022) and Yokohama Triennale (2024). The presentation consists of precisely selected vintage prints by Rydet, juxtaposed with selections from the most important cycles of Grzeszykowska’s work, including both darkroom and pigment prints.
Aneta Grzeszykowska, one of the most important contemporary Polish artists, uses her own image as the main subject of her photographs. In doing so, she continually pushes the boundaries of photographic portraiture. It is a kind of continuous, existential experiment, testing the body as sculptural material and as a medium for female identity. At Paris Photo, we present selected works from the artist’s acclaimed series: Negative Book, Selfie, Beauty Mask, and Mama. These works combine elements of live-action performance and carefully staged photography, utilizing found objects or props created by the artist – sculptural substitutes for parts of her own body.
In the Negative Book series (2012–2013), the artist “enters” the photographic negative as a corporeal, “positive” figure. Selfie (2014) is a surreal attempt at constructing a photographic self-portrait from fragments of the female body, made from fresh pig skin. Beauty Mask (2017) features a series of grotesque portraits of Grzeszykowska in cosmetic masks used in plastic surgery. Meanwhile, Mama (2018) – the artist’s best-known photographic series – documents her 8-year-old daughter playing with a hyperrealistic doll representing her mother’s head and torso.
Aneta Grzeszykowska’s work has been widely exhibited internationally in recent years, including at the main exhibition of the Venice Biennale (2022) and the Yokohama Triennale (2024). Her works are in numerous museum collections, including the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the Fotomuseum Winterthur, and the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.
Zofia Rydet (1911–1997) is one of the most original Polish artists of the 20th century. She began working with photography at the age of 40. Since the mid-1950s, she participated in the international art photography movement. From the 1960s, she produced her own series of works, initially inspired by humanistic photography and neorealism. Her most significant, never-completed work is The Sociological Record – an extraordinary, existential document depicting the condition of Polish society in the 1970s and 1980s.
The World of Feelings and Imagination series presented at Paris Photo, also published in book form in 1979, is a metaphorical tale of human life, referencing the tradition of surrealism but told from an empathetic, feminine perspective. In the artist’s words, her works “speak of a person threatened from birth, of their feelings and desires, of loneliness, the fear only love can save them from, and the terror of annihilation and the tragedy of passing.”
All the photographs used in the photomontages are by Rydet. These include images of Roman ruins in Sabratha and Leptis Magna, which she visited and photographed during her 1976 trip to Libya. The images of ruins echo wartime memories and fears of new global catastrophes, as well as portray destroyed social relations. In her works, true to the title of the series, Rydet is guided by feelings and imagination, and the emotional character of her work remains significant.
The presentation consists exclusively of original prints selected directly from the artist’s archive.
Zofia Rydet’s works have been exhibited in recent years at the 13th Gwangju Biennale (2021), The Wende Museum in Culver City (2019), Jeu de Paume – Château de Tours (2017), the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (2016), the 12th Baltic Triennial at CAC Vilnius (2015). Her works are included in many museum collections, such as MoMA in New York, the Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.
