Zofia Kulik was born in Wrocław in 1947. She studied at the Fine Arts Academy of Warsaw, where she developed a highly personal photography practice. From 1971 to 1987, she worked alongside Przemysław Kwiek, producing collaborative works under the name KwieKulik.
These filmic and photographic creations were influenced by the ‘open form’ concept developed by Polish architect Oskar Hansen. Another series, entitled Activities with Dobromierz (1972-1974), saw the pair capture their private life using their son as a protagonist, contrasting with the Polish totalitarian regime of the time. This series highlighted Eastern European feminist movements, showcasing the sphere of private life not as a prison, but as a space for expression and creation, and thus for resistance against the communist regime. Both this message and the various initiatives they organised over the years led the couple into trouble. In 1975, they were forbidden from leaving Poland owing to their political views.
From 1987 onwards, Kulik dedicated herself to solo work in the photographic field, whose main focus were black and white geometric patterns with an oriental edge. Kulik reveals her taste for centred compositions, symmetry, order, multiplication and figurative ornaments, using a kaleidoscopic process in her work, notably in her many life-size self-portraits, where she dresses in clothes made from hundreds of photographs of miniature bodies (Gorgeousness of the Self, 1997). To this day, she continues to put feminism into perspective through her work. Since 2008, the artist has focused her activities on her body of work and the KwieKulik archive.
Among her most notable exhibitions, the following stand out: Free International University, Düsseldorf (1981); Wizualne idiomy socwiecza, Mała Galeria ZPAF, Warsaw (1989); Wanderlieder, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1991); Frontiera 1/92, Bolzano (1992); Europa, Europa, Bonn (1994); Kwangju Biennale, South Korea (1995); 47th Venice Biennale (1997); Od Syberii do Cyberii, Poland (1998); L’Autre Moitie de l’Europe, Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris (2000); Autoportrety i Ogród, Galeria Le Guern, Warsaw (2004); Od Syberii do Cyberii, Zachęta Narodowa Galeria Sztuki, Warsaw (2004).
