Sara Rytteke was born and raised in Sweden. She did her undergraduate education in Sweden, France, and US. In 2000 she received her Masters of Fine Arts degree at the University of Houston, Houston, TX, where she also taught photography. Rytteke is currently an Assistant Professor at Barry University in Miami, Florida. Her awards and honors include the 2002 Fellowship Award from Society for Contemporary Photography, Kansas City, an Honorable Mention, 2001 Photography Fellowship sponsored by Houston Center for Photography, The Photo Review Award, 1998, The Digital Fine Arts Award, from The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA in 2000 and Kronobergslns Landstings Culture Stipend, Sweden in 1994. Sara Rytteke has participated in close to fifty exhibitions in Sweden, France and the US including Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington.

Sara C. Rytteke

From the Black and White close-up self-portraits in 1994 to the 1998- 2002 series “On Art, Beauty and Persuasion ” I have continually explored the issue of female identity and influence from massmedia and popular western cultural ideas. I feel that in my work I examine and interpret visually how the values of popular culture, especially women’s magazines and fashion, play a part in our lives. My investigation has brought me back to my childhood and I have recently started making myself into a paper dol l. I am interested in what the dolls represent in terms of toys as well as re-presentations of humans/women. I am examining the roles, through representative clothes, of females today and in the past."On Art, Beauty and Persuasion/You’re Such a Doll" is to me a continuation of my previous work dealing with magazine covers and their prevailing impact in popular culture. "On Art, Beauty and Persuasion/ Doll Was Here” makes a comparison between the popular ideas of postcards as representing reality of a place and challenge the shallow portrayal of identity and the notion that we are trying to live up to a myth of beauty and perfection that does not exist in reality.

Sara C. Rytteke