Artist of the day, December 27: Roger Ballen, South African photographer

Roger Ballen (1950) was born in New York but for over 30 years he has lived and worked in South Africa. His work as a geologist took him out into the countryside and led him to take up his camera and explore the hidden world of small South African towns. At first he explored the empty streets in the glare of the midday sun but, once he had made the step of knocking on people’s doors, he discovered a world inside these houses which was to have a profound effect on his work. These interiors with their distinctive collections of objects and the occupants within these closed worlds took his unique vision on a path from social critique to the creation of metaphors for the inner mind. After 1994 he no longer looked to the countryside for his subject matter finding it closer to home in Johannesburg.

Over the past thirty five years his distinctive style of photography has evolved using a simple square format in stark and beautiful black and white. In the earlier works in the exhibition his connection to the tradition of documentary photography is clear but through the 1990s he developed a style he describes as ‘documentary fiction’. After 2000 the people he first discovered and documented living on the margins of South African society increasingly became a cast of actors working with Ballen in the series’ Outland (2000, revised in 2015) and Shadow Chamber (2005) collaborating to create powerful psychodramas.

The line between fantasy and reality in his subsequent series’ Boarding House (2009) and Asylum of the Birds (2014) became increasingly blurred and in these series he employed drawings, painting, collage and sculptural techniques to create elaborate sets. There was an absence of people altogether, replaced by photographs of individuals now used as props, by doll or dummy parts or where people did appear it was as disembodied hands, feet and mouths poking disturbingly through walls and pieces of rag. The often improvised scenarios were now completed by the unpredictable behaviour of animals whose ambiguous behaviour became crucial to the overall meaning of the photographs. In this phase Ballen invented a new hybrid aesthetic, but one still rooted firmly in black and white photography.

In his artistic practice Ballen has increasingly been won over by the possibilities of integrating photography and drawing. He has expanded his repertoire and extended his visual language. By integrating drawing into his photographic and video works, the artist has not only made a lasting contribution to the field of art, but equally has made a powerful commentary about the human condition and its creative potential.

His contribution has not been limited to stills photography and Ballen has been the creator of a number of acclaimed and exhibited short films that dovetail with his photographic series’.

Ballen started to experiment using different spray paints on glass and then ‘drawing on’ or removing the paint with a sharp object to let natural light through. The results have been likened prehistoric cave-paintings: the black, dimensionless spaces on the glass are canvases onto which Ballen has carved his thoughts and emotions. He also released a related animated film, Theatre of Apparitions, which has been nominated for various awards.

© 2018. All images are copyrighted © by Roger Ballen Foundation. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained.

1970, Dead Cat

1972, Roly Poly, USA

1976, Cover up, Indonesia

1983, Children at Gate

1983, Old Man

1986, Man Shaving on Verandah

1987, John and Bertie, Brothers

1990, Boetie Nel grape farmer, from the series Platteland

1990, Mrs JJ Joubert and dog Dinky in bedroom, from the series Platteland

1992, Sergeant F de Bruin, Department of Prisons Employee

1993, Dresie and Casie Twins

1993, Scrapyard worker and family, from the series Platteland

1994, Wife of abattoir worker holding three puppies, from the series Platteland

1994, Woman and dogs, from the series Platteland

1995, Posing, from the series Outland

1996, Classroom, from the series Outland

1996, Factory Worker Holding Portrait of Grandfather

1996, Handyman

1997, Balancing, from the series Outland

1997, Boys with Baby Carriage

1998, A boy names Gary, from the series Outland

1998, Brian with pet pig, from the series Outland

1998, Cat Catcher, from the series Outland

1998, Convertee, from the series Outland

1998, Man bending over, from the series Outland

1999, Dejected, from the series Outland

1999, Head Below Wires, from the series Outland

1999, Puppy Between Feet

2000, Copy Cats, from the series Outland

2000, Doll Hanging on Wall, from the series Outland

2000, Portrait of sleeping girl, from the series Outland

2000, Show off, from the series Outland

2000, Tommy Samson and a Mask

2001, Skew-mask, from the series Shadow Chamber

2003, Appearances, from the series Boarding House

2003, Concealed, from the series Boarding House

2004, Closet, from the series Boarding House

2004, Eulogy, from the series Boarding House

2004, One Arm Goose, from the series Boarding House

2004, Scavenging, from the series Boarding House

2005, Apprehended, from the series Boarding House

2005, Cut Loose

2005, Mimicry

2006, Five Hands

2006, Metamorphosis, from the series Boarding House

2007, Bite, from the series Boarding House

2007, Celebration, from the series Boarding House

2007, Predators, from the series Boarding House

2007, Sliced, from the series Boarding House

2012, Altercation

2012, Rendezvous, from the series I Fink U Freeky

2012, Take-off, from the series The Theatre of Apparitions

2013, Devour

2016, Carlsen and Ballen

2016, Hug

2016, Morphed

2016, Touching Toes

2016, Trampled