In June 2006, the Centre for Contemporary Art at Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw launched the exhibition titled New Documentalists. Its curator, Adam Mazur, selected works by a dozen photographers documenting the surrounding reality in new ways, previously unseen on the Polish scene, and often also controversial. The showcased group of photographers included Zuza Krajewska, who at the time was thirty-one years old. She presented the series Traces – portraits of people with visible marks of dangerous accidents: a leg in a cast, a large scar, wounds, bruises. One of the series' protagonist, Zosia, with a brace-lined smile with missing teeth, was featured on the poster promoting the exhibition. It's hardly surprising – the portrait of the young, pretty girl in the style of glossy magazines immediately aroused attention. The exposed ‘defect’ created a disturbing effect, as it broke with the aesthetic standards that the audience was accustomed to. The photographer previously specialised in transcending aesthetic habits – in 2003, she showed portraits and nudes (at the time still signing her works as Madame Żużu) which bordered on tastefulness and kitsch. Their character was formed by the use of intense colours, a comic-like, exaggerated style, as well as peculiar and surprising props held by the models. ‘Laced with ambiguous eroticism, Żużu's portraits are rooted in the glitz of pop culture, advertising, and fashion’, wrote Adam Mazur about this series on Fototapeta.art.pl, referring to its as ‘ironic’ and ‘coquetish.’
Zuza Krajewska was born in 1975. She is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. For years, she has been simultaneously active in two, seemingly completely contradictory universes – the art world and the realm of shiny glitz that is fashion magazines. Krajewska is one of the most recognised fashion photographers – her photo shoots are featured beyond just in exclusive Polish lifestyle magazines, while her commercial photographs stand out in their originality among the masses of uniform over-aesthethicised pictures. She takes portraits of celebrities, politicians, and writers, many of whom apparently hope to be photographed by her, as she always comes up with non-orthodox, often controversial, but always memorable images. Krajewska has worked in fashion photography for many years and at a very high intensity level – however, she still has not lost the freshness of ideas and sense: whenever it is appropriate, she creates minimalist shoots, on another occasion – series filled with baroque abundance, kitschy, or low-key. She is capable of photographing celebrities with great style, regardless of whether they are posing with a shoe on their head, inside the Royal Castle, or naked in a swimming pool.