'Searching for your Shadow'
a photobook, published in April 2021
'In 1967, aged 15, Chris Rydlewski wandered Paris for an unanticipated week.
Fifty years later he returns to explore his mother's home district, the 15th arrondissement.
'Searching for your Shadow', the photo book which emerged
from this, is a book of resonances, of the re-treading of steps'.
‘Searching for your Shadow’ is a self-published photo book exploring memory, history and urban geography.
Like my birth and adoptive parents, I am a migrant with links to Ireland, Poland, and France, as well as my home country, Britain. My (adoptive) mother was also the child of migrants, from Poland. She was not born in Paris, but, was always from Paris.
This photo book consists of an exploration of my Parisian mother’s home district (the 15th arrondissement). This is one of the most everyday areas in Paris, with little there to attract the tourist or the sightseer.
These are also the streets I trod when I spent an unexpected week in Paris in 1967, aged 15. I spent the week walking, visiting galleries, observing, and absorbing. I did not have a camera at that time, but I now understand that that week was pivotal to my visual education. I learnt to not passively look, but to actively see.
Later in life I became a photographer.
This project is heavily influenced by the writings of Patrick Modiano (Nobel Prize for Literature, 2014), whose writings are the fragmented, lateral stories of memories, history, and the urban geography of Paris.
Crucially, Modiano's characters usually attempt, and fail, to make some sense of memories of the past. This failure is implicit in their search, as it is in mine.
The fragility of memory is thrown into relief by my mother’s struggles with dementia in the latter years of her life.
This slippage of personal and familial memory greatly informed this search for the intangible.
STOP PRESS: International Awards
In September 2021 it was announced that 'Searching for your Shadow' was awarded a Bronze Medal in the Book/Monograph section of the 2021 Prix de la Photographie de Paris (Px3).
Also, in December 2021 'Searching for your Shadow' was awarded an Honourable Mention in the
Book - Fine Art category of the Budapest International Foto Award 2021 (BIFA).
In September 2021 it was announced that 'Searching for your Shadow' was awarded a Bronze Medal in the Book/Monograph section of the 2021 Prix de la Photographie de Paris (Px3).
Also, in December 2021 'Searching for your Shadow' was awarded an Honourable Mention in the
Book - Fine Art category of the Budapest International Foto Award 2021 (BIFA).
‘Postcards from Europe’ - six images from the project were included in the ‘Postcards from Europe’ exhibition organised by shutterhub.org at Cambridge University (Feb 2022).
Below is a slideshow of the sequence of the photographs in the book:
As well as the above images, the book also contains maps of the 15th arrondissement from my mother's 'Plan de Paris', two of my mother's identity cards from the 1940s, an epigraph (by Patrick Modiano), a dedication to my mother, and an Afterword, written by myself, discussing the influences, the development, and realisation of the project. Key texts are in English and French.
As a result of a successful Kickstarter campaign at the end of 2020, I was able to produce a limited edition of 200 hardback copies of the book. The book pages measure 18 x 18cm.
The book is dedicated to the memory of my mother and was successfully self-published in April 2021.
All copies are numbered, and signed.
Copies cost £25.00 (€28.00) Plus shipping at cost.
As a result of a successful Kickstarter campaign at the end of 2020, I was able to produce a limited edition of 200 hardback copies of the book. The book pages measure 18 x 18cm.
The book is dedicated to the memory of my mother and was successfully self-published in April 2021.
All copies are numbered, and signed.
Copies cost £25.00 (€28.00) Plus shipping at cost.
To purchase the 'Searching for your Shadow' photobook,
please use this link to my Etsy store:
'Searching for your Shadow' Launch and Exhibition
An exhibition designed as the official launch of 'Searching for your Shadow',. This was held in April 2021, at Centrespace Gallery, Leonard's Lane, Bristol, UK
Review: from Bristol 24/7:
Here is a link to an an article on the project from Bristol 247:
https://www.bristol247.com/culture/art/photography-exhibition-embraces-identity-history-memory-and-geography/
https://www.bristol247.com/culture/art/photography-exhibition-embraces-identity-history-memory-and-geography/
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'Searching for your Shadow', the launch exhibition - an informal guided tour by Chris Rydlewski: |
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This must be what it feels like at the the end of a world tour ("Hello Bristol!"), but it's great to bring this show to the beautiful Vestibules Gallery in City Hall, Bristol BS1 5TR.
It feels like a venue made for this show.
Open till Friday 17th June, 11.30 - 18.45 daily.
Opening was extended to a second week, Mon 20th - Thurs 23rd June.
Thanks to everyone who visited the show - a great mix of invited people, friends, photography/art lovers and many passers-by. I had some fascinating conversations with many amazing people.
It was a lovely gallery to show work in, as you can see from the photos below.
It feels like a venue made for this show.
Open till Friday 17th June, 11.30 - 18.45 daily.
Opening was extended to a second week, Mon 20th - Thurs 23rd June.
Thanks to everyone who visited the show - a great mix of invited people, friends, photography/art lovers and many passers-by. I had some fascinating conversations with many amazing people.
It was a lovely gallery to show work in, as you can see from the photos below.
