France Through the Eye of Bogdan Konopka

Description

Organised by Boogie Woogie Photography as a part of Le French May 2019, this exhibition presents the work of travel photographer Bogdan Konopka.

Using large format or pinhole cameras, the late photographer carefully captured fragments of reality that have a still-life quality to them, quietly emerging from a dark background. Whether his subject is a fragment of nature in China, an urban tissue or an interior in Europe, Konopka’s photographs do not show any dramatic events, and neither does his camera catch any ‘decisive moments’  à la Henri Cartier-Bresson or Fan Ho.

Konopka’s hand-made gelatin silver prints on chlorobromide paper are mostly contact prints in the same size as the original negative to ensure the highest possible photo quality.

In the last fifteen years, Konopka’s works have been exhibited worldwide. His series ‘The Invisible City’
brought him an international acclaim after its exhibition at Centre Pompidou in 2003, while another series, ‘Paris in Grey’ won him the European Photography Award, Grand Prix de la ville de Vevey, in 1998.

Photo: © Bogdan Konopka, Arbonne-la-Forêt, 20 V 1997. Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography.