Born in 1953 in Poland, began taking photographs in the mid-1970s, first pointing the lens of his camera at the city where he lived and which had been, for the most part, destroyed in the World War 2; the city with double identity: Breslau - Wrocław. What interested him the most was the zone of shadows, both in the sense of its commonplace meaning, as well as the nature of photography itself. However, due to the unfavorable political climate of that time, those photographs were not meant to see the light of day for many years to come. Konopka continued to take photographs of cities where he came to live. First, it was Angers, later - Paris. The cycle The Invisible Citybrought him an international acclaim after the exhibition at the festival in Arles in 1994, while another cycle, Paris in grey won him the European Photography Award, Grand Prix de la ville de Vevey, in 1998. At that time, Bogdan Konopka decided to return to Central Europe and embark upon a journey to seven countries of the former Eastern Bloc, which resulted in the cycle entitled Reconnaissance, in which the artist attempted to settle account with the fallen empire. Next, he traveled to China on five separate occasions, in an attempt to capture the centuries-old greyness of existence, now slowly disappearing. Konopka’s favorite subjects are photographs of the urban tissue and landscape, although he also deals with portraits. The best known portion of his oeuvre includes junctures from large-format 4×5 and 8×10-inch negatives, although the artist also uses medium or even small-format cameras. In the last fifteen years, Konopka’s works could be seen in a number of countries. His grey, poetic, somewhat surreal miniatures are saturated with personal emotions and semi-mystical energies, making their author recognizable immediately upon the first viewing.

SIGNIFICANT CYCLES OF WORKS

Wrocław, 1978-2004, Solidarity, 1981, Portraits of the Martial Law, 1982–1983, Unlimited-time Reality, 1982-1983, The Invisible City, 1990-2011, Unlimited-time Reality II, 1993-2011, Paris in gray, 1994-1996, Cryptograms, 1998, Reconnaissance, 1998-2000, Faces, 1998-2005. China, the Empire of greyness, 2003-2007, Grey Memory, 1993-2009.

SELECTED  EXHIBITIONS

2016
PhotoFairs Shanghai, Shanghai Exhibition Center, Shanghai
Small is beautiful, OFOTO&ANART, Shanghai
La petite robe, Festival du Regard, Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Fotografia, Galeria Korytarz, Jelenia-Gora, Pologne
Konstelacje 2, Galeria Asymetria, Varsovie, Pologne
2015
La ville invisible,1990-2015, Festival l’Oeil Urbain, Corbeil-Essonnes, France
Infiniment grand infiniment petit ,  Rencontres internationales de la photographie de Gaspésie, Québec
Traces, 1918-2013, Dom Slovakia, Gorlice, Pologne
2014
Paris-Wroclaw, Galerie d’art contemporain BWA, Kielce, Pologne
Résidences, Chapelle de l’Hôpital Général, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Fotografia, performance, Galeria Entropia, Wroclaw, Pologne
2013
La prison du Château du Roy, collection automne-hiver, Musée Henri Martin, Cahors, France
La Bibliothèque polonaise de Paris, 1993-2012, Paris, France
Chine, l’empire du gris, Biennale Urbi & Orbi, Sedan, France
2012
Le temps des lucioles, Mois de la photo, Hôtel de Sauroy, Paris, France
Ineffabilis, Musée de Bydgoszcz, Pologne
Ineffabilis, part II, Galerie du Roi doré, Paris, France
2011
Rezonans, Festival Transphotographiques, Lille, France
Fotografia 1980-2010, Fotoartfestival, Bielsko-Biala  
Rezonans, Espace Van Gogh, Arles
2010
Chine, l’empire du gris, Centre d’art Manggha, Cracovie
Fotogenia cziszy, Galerie Refleksy, Varsovie
Fotografie, subiektyw Wrzesnia, Musée de Wresznia
Beauté mortelle, Théâtre La Passerelle, Gap
2009
Grey Memory, Galeria FF, Łódź, Poland
Chambres d’echo, The Reattu Museum, Arles, France
2008
De rerum natura, Photography Biennale, Moscow, Russia
Chine, l’empire du gris, The Polish Institute, The Month of Photography, Bratislava, Slovakia
Chine, l’empire du gris, Festival of Photography, Vilnius, Lithuania
Oeuvres au noir (with Tony Catany), Box Gallery, Brussels, Belgium 
2007
La Chine, Saveurs du divers (with Luo Yongjin), 1st Biennale Photoquai, Paris
Apocalypsea, Candace / Dwan Gallery, New York, USA
Objectif Paris, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand
2006
Residence, Musée du Ranquet, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Cryptograms, Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea, Milan, Italia
Paysages de Chine, Galerie Paviot, Paris, France
Beijing Opera - work in progress, Art Exhibitions Bureau (BWA), Bielsko-Biała, Poland
The 20th century in Polish Photography - The Łódź Art Museum collection) Tokyo, Japan Art Museum, Łódź, Poland
2005
Un corps vetu d’ombre - The Arles Antiques Museum, Arles, France
Un corps en contruction - 1st Photography Biennale, Modern Art Museum, Canton, China
2004
The invisible city, Aura Gallery, Shanghai, China 
Un musee en chantier (Photographs -2004), The Beaux Arts Museum, Angers, France
Faces, Galeria Mała CSW-ZPAF, Warsaw, Poland
Autumn in Beijing, Galeria FF, Łódź, Poland 
Mutatis mutandis, Transphotographique Festival, Lille, France 
2003
Lost in time, Candace Perich Gallery, Katonah, USA
Paris, The Invisible City, Pingyao Photo Festival, China
Paris, The Invisible City, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2002
Reconnaissances, Galerie Periscope, Liège, Belgium
The Grey Paris, Art Exhibitions Bureau (BWA) Wrocław, Poland
The Grey Paris, Muzeum Historii Fotografii, Kraków
European photography festival, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, USA
Cryptograms, Biennale Fotografii i Sztuk Wizualnych, Liège, Belgium
Cryptograms (with Mariusz Hermanowicz), The Entropia Gallery, Wrocław Poland 
2001
Reconnaissances, Pennings Gallery, Eindhoven, Holland
Reconnaissances, Galeria PF, Poznan, Poland
Reconnaissances, Nouveau Theatre d’Angers, France
2000
The Gray Paris, The Polish Institute, Moi de la photographie, Paris, France
The Invisible City, The French Institute, Bucharest, Romania
The Hellenique Photography Biennal, Athens, Greece
Photography Biennal,, Poznań, Poland
The Illusion of Distance, National Museum, Minsk, Belarus
1998
 The End And The Beginning, The Mała Gallery CSW-ZPAF, Warszawa, Poland
The Invisible City, Galleria Acta Internationale, Rome, Italy
1997
Paris Des Photographies - from the Centre Pompidou collection, Bunkamura 
Muzeum, Tokyo; Suntory Muzeum Osaka, Japan; The Niepce Museum, Chalons-sur-
Saone, France
1996
Contemporary Photography In France, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Contemporary Photography In France, from the FNAC collection, The Month of 
Photography, Moscow, Russia
Closer to Photography, Art Exhibitions Beaureau (BWA), Jelenia Góra, Poland         
1995
The Aura of Existence, The Matisse Museum, Nice, France
The Invisible City, Paris; fragments, Galerie Arena, Arles, France
The Invisible City, Paris; fragments, Galeria FF, Łódź, Poland
1994
The Invisible City, Międzynarodowe Spotkania Fotograficzne, Arles, France
De Natura Rerum, The May of Photography, Reims, France
Junctures, Galerie 3×A, The Angers Castle, France
1993
The Fond National d’Art Contemporain Collection, Centrum Pompidou, Paris, France
1990
 Ce qu’ils voient, Ce quil revent, Nouveau Theatre d’Angers, France
Photographs 1980-1990, Galerie Le Triangle, Rennes, France
Polnische Kulturtage, Oldenburg, Germany
1988
 Encounter with Photography...; performance), (with Marek Całus), The Entropia 
Gallery, Wrocław, Poland
1984
Unlimited-time Reality, Galeria Foto-Medium-Art, Wrocław, Poland
1983
Z OKNA (From A Window), Galeria Foto-Medium-Art, Wrocław, Poland
120, The Okno Gallery, Legnica, Poland
1982
 Empty-Full, (with Jerzy Olek), The Foto-Medium-Art Gallery, Wrocław, Poland 
1981
 Solidarity, The Na antresoli Gallery, Technical University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, CENTRE POMPIDOU, Paris, France
NATIONALBIBLIOTHÈQUE, Paris, France
NATIONAL COLLECTION OF CONTEMPORARY ART, FNAC Paris, France
CARNAVALET MUSEUM, Paris, France
THE REGIONAL COLLECTION OF CONTEMPORARY ART, FRAC, Paris, France
THE EUROPEAN HOUSE OF PHOTOGRAPHY, Paris, France
COLLECTIONS DU MINISTERE DE LA COMMUNAUTE FRANCAISE DE BELGIQUE, Brussels, Belgium
THE REATTU MUSEUM, Arles, France
THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, Minsk, Belarus
ART MUSEUM, Łódź, Poland
NATIONAL MUSEUM, Wrocław, Poland
HENRI MARTIN MUSEUM, Cahors, France
REGIONAL MUSEUM, Cassel, France
ELYSEAN MUSEUM, Lausanne, Switzerland
MUSEUM OF CAMERAS, Vevey, Switzerland
BEAUX-ARTS MUSEUM, Angers, France
REGIONAL MUSEUM, Le Touquet, France
REGIONAL CENTER OF PHOTOGRAPHY, CRP, Douchy les Mines, France
CHATEAU D’EAU GALLERY, Toulouse, France
CENTER OF PHOTOGRAPHY, Nice, France