Sputnik Photos
is an international collective of Central and Eastern European photographers. Agnieszka Rayss is one of the founding member of Sputnik Photos. Founded in 2006, it has taken its members’ experiences of life in the region as a point of departure for an examination of the sociopolitical processes and sociocultural phenomena which have driven this region’s transformation since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Over the course of the past decade, Sputnik Photos has worked across such diverse platforms as photography, film, the photobook and zines to assemble an open-ended record of sequential or elliptical developments within the former Eastern Bloc. Besides initiating an educational and mentoring program, Sputnik Photos occasionally invites artists to collaborate on certain projects with a view to actuate dialogue and gaining an outsider’s perspective.
Key to the concept of Sputnik Photos is using the power of the image to create consciousness and sharing the concerns of our time. Members of the collective examine their responsibility as artists and, ultimately, the responsibility borne by all of us.
