roger ballen biography

Roger Ballen

Prints and Drawings Rooms

Roger Ballen (born April 11, 1950) is an American artist living in Johannesburg, South Africa, and working in its surrounds since the 1970s. His oeuvre, which spans five decades, began with the documentary photography field but evolved into the creation of distinctive fictionalized realms that also integrate the mediums of film, installation, theatre, sculpture, painting and drawing. Marginalized people, animals, found objects, wires and childlike drawings inhabit the unlocatable worlds presented in Ballen's artworks. Ballen describes his works as existential psychodramas that touch the subconscious mind and evoke the underbelly of the human condition. They aim to break through the repressed thoughts and feelings by engaging him in themes of chaos and order, madness or unruly states of being, the human relationship to the animal world, life and death, universal archetypes of the psyche and experiences of otherness.

This biography is from Wikipedia under an Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons License . Spotted a problem? Let us know .

Puppy between Feet

Boys with baby carriage, factory worker holding portrait of grandfather, portrait of sleeping girl, tommy, samson and a mask, apprentices, film and audio.

Roger Ballen: 'A good picture comes from nowhere'

In the shop.

Roger Ballen American-South African, b. 1950

• Exhibitions

One of the most influential and important photographic artists of the 21 st  century, Roger Ballen’s photographs span over forty years.  His strange and extreme works confront the viewer and challenge them to come with him on a journey into their own minds as he explores the deeper recesses of his own.

Roger Ballen was born in New York in 1950 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 behavior of animals whose ambiguous behavior 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’. The collaborative film  I Fink You Freeky , created for the cult band Die Antwoord in 2012, has garnered over 125-million hits on YouTube. He has taken his work into the realms of sculpture and installation, at Paris’ M usée de la Chasse  et de la Nature (2017), Australia’s Sydney College of the Arts (2016) and at the Serlachius Museum in Finland (2015) is to name but a few.  The spectacular installation at Les Rencontres d’Arles 2017, “House of the Ballenesque” was voted as one of the best exhibitions for 2017.   In 2018 at the Wiesbaden Biennale, Germany, another installation “Roger Ballen’s Bazaar/Bizarre” was created in an abandoned shopping center.

Ballen’s series,  The Theatre of Apparitions  (2016), is inspired by the sight of these hand-drawn carvings on blacked-out windows in an abandoned women’s prison.

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.

In September 2017 Thames & Hudson published a large volume of the collected photography with extended commentary by Ballen titled  Ballenesque Roger Ballen: A Retrospective .

Halle Saint Pierre in Paris opened an exhibition September 6 th  2019 titled  The   World According to Roger Ballen .   Thames & Hudson published the book in French and English to accompany the show.  His work will take over the entire space for a full year closing in August 2020.

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AT THE SMITHSONIAN

The beautifully strange photography of roger ballen.

A retrospective exhibit includes 55 works and the artist’s video collaboration with South Africa’s hip-hop-rave duo Die Antwoord

Leah Binkovitz

Roger Ballen’s inventive photographs rely on many other media, including drawing and sculpture, to create a new world. “Alter Ego.” From the Asylum series, 2010. Archival pigment print, Collection of the artist

Photography is said to be the truest representation of reality. The ability to capture still and moving image inspired artists to document life, rather than embellish it. Filmmaker Dziga Vertov inspired the genre cinéma vérité or truthful cinema. Today, photography maintains a special claim to objective truth alongside news stories. Rarely is the hand of the artist acknowledged in the making of a photograph.

But it’s everywhere in the work of New York-born, South Africa-based photographer Roger Ballen. A new exhibit at the African Art Museum, curated by fellow artist Craig Allen Subler, takes 55 works from Ballen’s nearly half-decade career shooting in black and white to illustrate the ways in which the artist has utilized the tools of drawing, namely mark-making and line, to create his unique aesthetic world.

Spanning from his early portraits to later, denser works that reference theater as much as photography, the exhibit, “ Lines, Marks, and Drawings: Through the Lens of Roger Ballen ,” shows just how thoroughly the concept of line infiltrates and structures his work across his entire career. Mangled hangers, clotheslines, stick figures drawn directly on the walls–the lines of Ballen’s photographs exist like totems, complete with their own psychic drama similar to Jackson Pollock’s early experiments with Jungian archetypes, or Pablo Picasso’s exploration  of  mythic figures like the minotaur. The exhibit moves roughly from portraiture to theater to a collaborative image-making that fuses the subject with line so completely that all that’s left is a peek of an arm or a disembodied head.

His Platteland series explores the interior spaces of rural South African homes. “Boy with Guns, Western Transvaal.” 1993.

The artist, who spent nearly a year hitchhiking from Cairo to Cape Town as a young man, is also a geologist who claims citizenship in what he sees as the last generation of photographers working with black and white film. Though he has lived in South Africa for more than 30 years, his work maintains an outsider art aesthetic. Interior shots in the homes of rural South Africans, from his Platteland series, seem to exist at the precise moment chaos turns to order and vice versa: live animals exist alongside their more domesticated toy counterparts, white walls that are otherwise unadorned have smeared handprints or childish doodles scrawled right on the surface and people are typically in some state of undress.

In South Africa, the aesthetic has reached a certain counter culture cache embodied in the idea of Zef . Taken from the Afrikaans word for “common,” zef’s unofficial ambassador is the band Die Antwoord , which collaborated with Ballen on its video “I Fink U Freeky,” also included in the museum’s exhibit.

“They told me when they first saw work that they stopped what they were doing for a year and went in a different direction,” says Ballen of the hip-hop-rave group who reached out to him to work on the video. He says their two styles organically fused and the whole video took only four and a half days to shoot.

When Ballen first saw the exhibit, he says it felt instantly right. “The exhibition is quite silent,” he says, pleased with the outcome. In fact, it’s almost eerily so. The aesthetic still hits just as hard when combined with the rambunctious music of Die Antwoord. Standing in the middle of the gallery space, surrounded by work from his entire career, Ballen says it’s exhilarating to confront himself, to look at what exactly has been guiding his work for so long. “It’s very gratifying,” he says. “Looking back at the work, you feel, well, at least I’ve preserved something through all those years. . .there is a line that runs through.”

Ballen creates a single canvas out of a complicated arrangement in this photograph. “Boarding House.” From the Boarding House series, 2008. Archival pigment print, Collection of the artist

Twisted wire hangers transform into animated beings. “Washing Line.” From the Boarding House series, 2005. Silver gelatin print, Collection of the artist

Two hands reach through. “Jump.” From the Asylum series, 2009. Archival pigment print, Collection of the artist

Ballen paints and draws directly on glass, illuminates it and then photographs it for his Apparitions series, creating what Subler calls glyphs. “Divided Self.” From the Apparitions series, 2007. Archival pigment print, Collection of the artist

Bird imagery occurs throughout the Asylum series. “Nine Birds.” From the Asylum series, 2009. Archival pigment print, Collection of the artist

More from his series of work created on glass. “Injured.” From the Apparitions series, 2007. Archival pigment print, Collection of the artist

Ballen calls himself an organizer and his art an act of organization and capturing the decisive moment. “Banner.” From the Asylum series, 2009. Archival pigment print, Collection of the artist

Lines on lines on lines. “Wiggle.” From the Boarding House series , 2007. Silver gelatin print, Collection the artist

“ Lines, Marks, and Drawings: Through the Lens of Roger Ballen ” is on view at the African Art Museum through February 9, 2014. Ballen will be at the museum Thursday, June 20, for an artist talk.

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Leah Binkovitz | | READ MORE

Leah Binkovitz is a Stone & Holt Weeks Fellow at Washington Post and NPR. Previously, she was a contributing writer and editorial intern for the At the Smithsonian section of Smithsonian magazine.

Roger Ballen: A Master of Psychological Black-and-White Photography

American photographer.

Roger Ballen

Quotes | Videos | Books

View images by: Roger Ballen

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Roger Ballen [1950 – present] is an American-born photographer and filmmaker known for his haunting and enigmatic images that explore the fringes of society and the depths of the human psyche.

His work is often characterized by its stark black-and-white imagery, raw and unfiltered subjects, and a sense of psychological tension and disquiet. Ballen’s photographs often depict marginalized individuals and communities living in desolate and impoverished environments, capturing their vulnerabilities, resiliencies, and the complexities of their existence.

He frequently employs props, staging, and collaboration with his subjects, creating surreal and dreamlike tableaux that challenge viewers’ perceptions of reality and the boundaries between the ordinary and the extraordinary.

Ballen’s work has been exhibited extensively worldwide. It has garnered critical acclaim for its originality, social commentary, and profound exploration of the human condition.

Read the full Biography below.

Photography Quotes From Roger Ballen

📸 Did you know? Roger Ballen’s early career was in geology, not photography.

Videos about Roger Ballen

📸 Did you know? Roger Ballen’s work is often inspired by dreams and the unconscious mind.

Photography Books: Roger Ballen

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📸 Did you know? Roger Ballen’s work has been criticized for its exploitation of its subjects.

Biography of Roger Ballen

Early life and education.

Roger Ballen was born in New York City on April 1, 1950. Growing up in a family with a strong interest in the arts, his mother worked at Magnum, a well-known photo agency. This environment nurtured his early interest in photography. 

Despite this artistic influence, Ballen initially pursued a more conventional educational path, studying psychology. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1972 and a Ph.D. in Mineral Economics from the Colorado School of Mines in 1981.

Transition to Photography

Ballen’s journey into photography began in earnest during the 1970s. Although he had been taking pictures since his teenage years, his extensive travels through rural areas in East and South Asia, and later in South Africa, profoundly shaped his photographic career. These travels marked the beginning of his lifelong engagement with the medium.

Settling in South Africa

After completing his education, Ballen moved to Johannesburg, South Africa, where he worked as a geologist but continued to pursue photography passionately. With its complex social and political landscape, South Africa provided a rich and challenging environment for his work.

Artistic Evolution and Style

Ballen’s photographic style is distinctive and evolved significantly over his career. His early work in the 1980s and 1990s focused on documenting the marginal communities and rural landscapes of South Africa in a stark, realist style. These black and white photographs were marked by their deep empathy and unflinching gaze into the lives of his subjects.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Ballen’s style underwent a significant transformation, moving from straight documentary photography to a more ambiguous, often surreal form of image-making. This period marked the emergence of what became known as his ‘Ballenesque’ style – a unique fusion of photography, drawing, and painting.

Notable Series and Works

One of Ballen’s most acclaimed series is “Outland” (2001), which represented a departure from his earlier documentary style. The images in this series are both disturbing and compelling, often featuring people, animals, and objects in unsettling juxtapositions, blurring the line between reality and fantasy.

His subsequent series, such as “Shadow Chamber” (2005) and “Asylum of the Birds” (2014), continued to explore this distinctive style. These works are characterized by their intricate compositions, where every element seems to be carefully placed to create a sense of unease and psychological complexity.

Collaboration and Influence

In addition to his photographic work, Ballen gained widespread recognition through his collaboration with the South African rap-rave group Die Antwoord. His distinctive visual style featured prominently in their music video for “I Fink U Freeky,” which introduced his work to a broader, international audience.

Exhibitions and Recognition

Roger Ballen has published over 25 books internationally. His works are in more than 50 of the most important international museum collections, contributing to his recognition as one of the most influential and original photographic artists of his time.

Teaching and Philosophical Contributions

As an educator, Ballen has conducted workshops and lectures globally, sharing his unique approach to photography. His philosophical outlook on photography challenges the boundaries between reality and the inner workings of the mind, encouraging viewers and students alike to confront the deeper aspects of their psyche.

Legacy and Continuing Career

As of 2023, Roger Ballen remains an active figure in contemporary photography. His work, often described as existing on the fringes of the mainstream, challenges conventional aesthetics and probes the depths of the human condition. His influence extends beyond photography, impacting the fields of visual arts, music videos, and mental health awareness through his exploration of the human psyche.

Roger Ballen’s career is a testament to the power of photography as a medium for profound artistic and psychological exploration. His unique vision and relentless pursuit of a deeply personal artistic language have secured his place as one of the modern era’s most intriguing and significant photographers.

The introduction and biography of Roger Ballen were compiled with information from Google searches, ChatGPT, Google Bard, and Wikipedia, where applicable. While effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the included information, errors are possible. If you know of a mistake on this page, please use the contact form on this website to notify me. Thank you in advance.

Joe Edelman

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Roger Ballen

American, born 1950

Roger Ballen is known for his disquieting psychological portraits of rural inhabitants on the fringes of South African society. Ballen, who worked as a geologist and mining consultant before starting his career as a photographer, found inspiration for his work in the people he encountered as a mining prospector in the small villages of rural South Africa. Since then, his work has moved beyond observation and documentation toward abstraction and complex narratives . Often photographing at a warehouse for transients on the outskirts of Johannesburg, the photographs move beyond human subjects, and embark on an imaginative physiological journey, which blur the lines of fact or fiction.

Ballen has lived and worked in Johannesburg, South Africa for more than 30 years. In 2001, Ballen’s book Outland won the Best Photographic Book of the Year at PhotoEspaña . Ballen’s other monographs include Ballenesque: Roger Ballen, A Retrospective (2017), Roger Ballen: Resurrected (2016), The Theatre of Apparitions (2016), Asylum of the Birds (2014), Lines, Marks, and Drawings: Through the Lens of Roger Ballen (2013), Photographs 1969-2009 (2011), Animal Abstraction (2011), Boarding House (2009) , Shadow Chamber (2005), Platteland (1994), Dorps (1986), and Boyhood (1979). Ballen’s photographs are included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art , New York; the Centre Georges Pompidou , Paris; the Victoria & Albert Museum , London; and the Stedelijk Museum , Amsterdam.

Theater of Apparitions

Embryonic, 2009/2022

Pigment ink print 25 5/8 x 25 5/8 in.

Pigment ink print 21 1/4 x 14 1/8 in.

Celestial, 2009/2022

Pigment ink print 21 1/4 x 13 1/16 in.

Amulet, 2011

Pigment ink print 14 1/8 x 21 1/4 in.

Moonrise, 2011

Assembly, 2011

Blurp, 2011

Cosmos, 2010

Face Off, 2010

Ghostriding, 2011

Giant, 2013

Half and Half, 2012

Hanging, 2012

Pigment ink print 44 x 31 1/2 in.

Outreach, 2012

Panic, 2011

Pigment ink print 39 3/8 x 26 3/8 in.

Shadows and Strangers, 2010

Pigment ink print 29 1/2 x 29 1/2 in.

Guardian Angel, 2011

Hallucination, 2010

The Back of the Mind, 2012

Pigment ink print 39 3/8 x 27 3/4 in.

You Can't Come Back, 2011

Pigment ink print

Roger Ballen Theater of Apparitions

Ghostriding

Half and Half

Shadows and Strangers

Guardian Angel

Hallucination

The Back of the Mind

You Can't Come Back

Cat Catcher, 1998

Study of boy and plant, 1999

Head Below Wires, 1999

Man Drawing Chalk Faces, 2000

Show Off, 2000

Roger Ballen Outland

Cat Catcher

Study of boy and plant

Head Below Wires

Man Drawing Chalk Faces

Shadow Chamber

Juxtaposed, 2004

Skew Mask, 2002

Twirling Wires, 2001

Bitten, 2004

Head Inside Shirt, 2001

Cloaked Figure, 2003

Roger Ballen Shadow Chamber

Twirling Wires

Head Inside Shirt

Cloaked Figure

Asylum of the Birds

Untitled, 2010

Take Off, 2012

Place of the Eyeballs, 2012

Banner, 2009

Ascension, 2013

Audience, 2011

Serpent Lady, 2009

Alter Ego, 2010

Roger Ballen Asylum of the Birds

Place of the Eyeballs

Serpent Lady

Boarding House

Cut Loose, 2005

Pathos, 2005

Squawk, 2005

Boarding House, 2008

Cornered, 2004

Roger Ballen Boarding House

Featured Work

Roger Ballen

Selected Works

Born in New York 1950 Based in Johannesburg, South Africa since the early 1980s

One of the most influential and important photographic artists of the 21st century, Roger Ballen’s photographs span over forty years. His strange and extreme works confront the viewer and challenge them to come with him on a journey into their own minds as he explores the deeper recesses of his own.

Roger Ballen was born in New York in 1950 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 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 and Shadow Chamber collaborating to create powerful psychodramas.

The line between fantasy and reality in his more recent series’ Boarding House and Asylum of the Birds has become increasingly blurred and in these series he has employed drawings, painting, collage and sculptural techniques to create elaborate sets. People are now often absent altogether; replaced by photographs of people used as props, by doll or dummy parts or where they do appear it’s as disembodied hands, feet and mouths poking disturbingly through walls and pieces of rag. The often improvised scenarios are completed by the unpredictable behaviour of the animals whose ambiguous behaviour is crucial to the overall meaning of the photographs. Ballen has invented a new hybrid aesthetic in these works but one still rooted firmly in black and white photography.

Ballen has had over fifty exhibitions worldwide, and his work is represented in many museums, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 2013 the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution presented a major retrospective of his work, to critical acclaim.

Roger Ballen | CV Born in New York 1950 Based in Johannesburg, South Africa since the early 1980s.

EDUCATION 1982  PhD, Mineral Economics, University of Colorado 1982  MS, Geology, University of Colorado. 1972  BA, Psychology, University of California. Berkeley.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2016

• Zemack Contemporary Art, Tel aviv, Israel
• Carpentier Gallery, Berlin, Germany
• Central Academy of Fine Art Museum, Beijing
• Centro Fotografico Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Mexico
• Etherton Gallery, Tucson, United States
• Fototeca, Monterrey, Mexico
• Galleria Massimo Minini, Brescia, Italy
• Gallery Momo, Cape Town
• Gallery Momo, Johannesburg
• Hamilton Gallery, London, UK
• James Fuentes, New York City, United States
• João Barbado – Lisboa, Portugal
• Museo Arocena ,Torreón, Mexico
• Natalie and James Thompson Art Gallery, San Jose State University, San Jose, United States
• SNAP! Gallery, Orlando, Florida, United States
• Southeast Musuem of Photography, Daytona, United States
• Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, Australia
• TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes/Museum Dr Guislain Gent
• Von der Heydt-Kunsthalle, Wuppertal-Barmen
• Bogotá Photo Festival, Bogotá, Colombia
• CAFAM, Beijing, China
• Chazen Museum of Art, Wisconsin, United States
• David Krut Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
• Frigoriferi Milanesi, Milan, Italy
• Fried Gallery, Pretoria, South Africa
• Galerie Karsten Greve, Köln, Germany
• Galerie Rudolphe Janssen, Masks, Brussels, Belgium
• Galerie Senda, Barcelona, Spain
• Kafka House, Prague, Czech Republic
• Kyotographie, Kyoto, Japan
• La Fabrica, Madrid, Spain
• Montserrat, Barcelona, Spain
• Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
• Museum of Image, Braga, Portugal
• Photoink, New Delhi, India
• Pori Art Museum, Pori , Finland
• Serlachius Museum, Mänttä, Finland
• Atlas Sztuki, Lodz, Poland
• Christophe Guye Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland
• Circa Gallery, Johannesburg
• Festival de la Luz, Buenos Aires
• Fotografiska, Stockholm, Sweden
• Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France
• Galerie Karsten Greve, One Man Show “Asylum of the Birds”, Paris Photo, France
• Kulungwana, Maputo, Mozambique
• Kunst- und Kulturzentrum Monschau, Aachen, Deutschland
• Moscow Media Centre, Moscow Russia
• Musée Nicéphore Niépce, Chalon-sur-Saône, France
• Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma, Rome, Italy
• Museu Oscar Niemeyer, Brazil
• Museum Dr. Guislain, Gent, Belgium
• Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, Germany
• Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa
• Paris Photo, Grand Palais, Paris, France
• Belfast Photo Festival, Belfast, Northern Island
• Galerie Clairefontaine, Luxembourg
• Johannesburg Art Fair, South Africa
• Maison De L’Image Documentaire, The CèTávoiR Association, Paris, France
• Museum of Old and New, Hobart Australia
• Nikolaj Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, Denmark
• Pingao International Photography Festival, China
• Palm Springs Art Museum, California, USA
• Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington DC, USA
• Westlicht, Schauplatz fur Fotografie, Vienna, Austria
• Erdmann Contemporary & the Photographers Gallery za, Cape Town, South Africa
• Guate Festival, Guatemala de la Asunción, Guatemala
• Kleinschmidt Fine Photographs, Wiesbaden, Germany
• Kunstalle, Vienna, Austria
• Manchester Art Museum, England
• Marta Herford Museum, Herford, Germany
• Musee de l Elysee, Lausanne Switzerland
• Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janiero, Brazil
• Northwest University Museum, Potchestroom, South Africa
• Novosibirsk Art Museum, Russia
• Rosphoto, St. Pieterburg, Russia
• Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel
• Angkor Photo Festival, Cambodia
• Fahey Klein, Los Angles, California
• Fondazione Terre Medicee, Seravezza, Italy
• Galerie Alex Daniels – Reflex Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Galleri Tom Christoffersen, Copenhagen, Denmark
• Mannheim Ludwigshafen Heidelberg, Germany
• Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal, Canada
• Museum Het Domein, Sittard, Netherlands
• Omsk Museum, Russia
• Sammlung Prinzhorn, Outland and Shadow Chamber, Heidelberg, Germany
• Bozar, Brussels
• Comune di Arco/Galleria Civica, Italy
• Centro de Arte la Regenta, Las Palmas, Spain
• Festival of Photography of Savignano, Italy
• Gallery Photographer RU, Moscow, Russia
• Galerie Sabine Knust, Munich, Germany
• Galeria Max Estrella
• Galeria Senda. Barcelona, Spain
• Galerie Kamel Mennour, Paris, France
• George Eastman House, Rochester, USA
• Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
• Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, USA
• Lismore Regional Gallery, Australia
• Photonet Galerie, Wiesbaden, Germany
• Rooke Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
• Sammlungsleiter Fotomuseum, Munich, Germany
• Stenersen Museum, Oslo
• Sydney Biennale, Australia
• University of the O.F.S., South Africa
• Ubuntu, Salzburg Austria
• Ubuntu, Berlin, Germany
• Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand
• Aura Gallery, Shanghai
• City Museum of Ljubljana, Slovenia
• Gagosian Gallery, New York, USA
• Galerie Wolfsen, Denmark
• Galerija Fotografija, Ljubljana, Slovenia
• Hamiltons Gallery, London, UK
• Johnen Gallery, Berlin, Germany
• Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, Australia
• National Library of Australia, Canberra
• Ontario College of Art & Design, Toronto, Ontario
• Triennale, Milan, Italy
• University of Johannesburg, South Africa
• University of Pretoria, South Africa
• University of the Orange Free State, South Africa
• AEREA / Christian Larsen, Stockholm, Sweden
• Art Gallery of Western Australia
• BWA Gallery, Katowice, Poland
• Galeria vanGuardia, Bilbao, Spain
• Hertzelia Artists Host Centre, Tel Aviv, Israel
• Omaggio a Federico Vender at Palazzo dei Panni of Arco Trento
• Su Palatu, Sardinia
• Aura Gallery, Hong Kong
• Clint Roenisch Gallery, Toronto, Canada
• Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
• Galerie Photonet, Wiesbaden. Germany
• Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg
• Robert Klein Gallery, Boston
• Trafo Gallery, Oslo, Norway
• Yours Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
• Atlanta College of Arts, USA
• Berlin Biennial, Berlin
• Biblioteque Nationale, Paris
• Christian Dam Gallery, Oslo, Norway
• Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
• Fahey Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
• Fotografisk Center, Copenhagen, Denmark
• Galeria Senda, Barcelona, Spain
• Galerie Johnen + Schöttle, Cologne
• Galerie Nicola von Senger, Zurich, Switzerland
• Guido Costa Projects, Torino, Italy
• Museum voor Fotografie, Antwerp
• National Arts Festival, South Africa
• Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloem., South Africa
• Photographer’s Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
• Sasol Museum, Stellenbosch, South Africa
• Stills Gallery, Sydney, Australia
• Xavier Hufkens, Brussels, Belgium
• Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem
• Durban Art Gallery, South Africa
• Reflex Gallery, Amsterdam
• Gagosian Gallery, New York
• Berkeley Art Museum, California
• Le Chateau d’ eau a Toulouse
• State Museum of Russia, St. Petersburg
• Galerie Mennour, Paris
• Galleria Carla Sozzani, Italy
• Centro Cultural de Maia, O’Porto
• Gallery of Photography, Dublin
• Galleria D’arte Moderna, Bologna, Italy
• Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles
• Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego
• Musee Nicephore Niepce
• Museo Nazionalle Italy, Brescia
• Museet for Fotokunst, Odense
• Nuku Gallery, Oulu
• Sala Rekalde, Bilbao
• Association for Visual Arts, Cape Town
• Encontros da imagem, Braga, Portugal
• Fotoforum, Frankfurt
• Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
• Hasselblad Center, Gutenberg
• International Photo Festival Herten
• Kicken Gallery, Berlin
• Krefelder Kunstmuseen, Krefeld
• Mateo Inurria, Cordoba
• PhotoEspana, Madrid
• Printemps de Septembre a Toulouse
• Rupertinum, Salzburg
• Shine Gallery, London
• Wurttembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart
• Museum of Photography, Athens
• Noordelicht, Amsterdam
• Royal Theatre of Namur, Belgium
• Sani Festival, Greece
• Thessaloniki, Month of Photography
• Fait & Cause, Paris
• Melkweg, Amsterdam
• Month of Photography, Bratislava
• Month of Photography, Cape Town
• Kunsthaus, Zürich
• Kunstal Museum, Rotterdam
• Eindhoven Photographic Festival
• Tarranto Gallery, New York City
• Arles Photographic Festival, Arles
• Royal Festival Hall/Hayward, London
• Afrikaner Museum, Johannesburg
• Michaelis Collection, Cape Town
• Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria
• Shell Gallery, Cape Town
• Market Theatre, Johannesburg
• Centre for Photography, Denver

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

• AIPAD -The Association of International Photography Art Dealers, New York, United States – Etherton Gallery
• Kendell Geers – Sindika Dokolo Foundation in Luanda
• V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark – Roger Ballen with Asger Carlsen
• Art of Others, Outsiders, Self Taught and Navive Artists, Haifa Museum, Haifa Israel
• The Art of Photography Show, San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, California, USA, September 2012
• Confounding: Contemporary Photography, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, October 2012
• Domestic Disorder in Contemporary Art, Musexpo, Gouggainville, France
• Play, Turnhout, Antwerp, Belgium, Fall 2012
• The Rise and Fall of Apartheid, International Centre of Photography, New York, USA, September 2012 – January 2013
• Seeing Eye, Brundyn and Gonsalves, Cape Town, SA
• Tender and Cruel, Tim Mellville Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand, May – June 2012
• Traumwelten – In the Court of the King of Dreams, Kunsthalle HGN, Duderstadt, Germany
• Twins, Center for Photography, Woodstock, New York, USA, June 2012
• High Speed Insanity, Blomquist, Oslo Norway
• Museu de Arte Contemporanea de Niteroi, Rio de Janerio, Brazil
• National Gallery of Modern Art, Bengaluru India
• Real, Fotogaleria Wien, Vienna Austria
• 7th Lane, Ellen-K Fine Art Photography, Norway
• BIP 2010, Liege, Belgium
• PEEKABOO! Helsinki Art Museum Tennis Palace, Finland
• Skotia Gallery, First Biennial Photography Invitational, Santa Fe, USA
• Zacheta National Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
• After Nature, New Museum, New York USA
• Cautionary Tales, Albuquerque USA
• New York Photo Festival, New York USA
• Untitled (Vicarious), Gagosian Gallery, New York, USA
• Snaps, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg South Africa
• Making Faces, Musée de l’Elysée
• Citigroup Photography Prize, London
• Centro Cultural de Maia O’Porto
• National Portrait Gallery, London
• Sala Rekalde, Bilbao 2002 “Dislocation”
• Victoria and Albert Museum, London
• La Natura Della Natura Morta
• Museet for Fotokunst, Odense C
• Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
• Haus der Kulturen der Welt
• “Portraits of Africa”, Berlin
• Film & Television, Bradford
• National Museum of Photography
• New Natural History
• Comment Jouer Enfermement,
• Maison Européene de la Photographie, Paris
• Contemporain, Paris
• Double Vie, Double Vue,
• Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, Edition 46, Artist of the Year, published on 14 November 2014
• Best Music Video,  I Fink U Freeky , Plus Camerimage International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography in Bydgoszcz, Poland
• I Fink U Freeky . Award for best music video at the 20th Short Vila do Conde International Film Festival, Portugal, 2012
• Finalist – Lucie Awards Curator/Exhibition of the Year: Roger Ballen: Photographs 1982 – 2009. Curated by Dr. Anthony Bannon for the George Eastman House, Rochester, New York.
• Art Directors Club Award Photography – 2006
• The Selma Blair Witch Project – New York Times Magazine, October 31st 2005
• Top 10 Exhibition, Matthew Higgs, Artforum-2004
• Citigroup Prize, finalist, UK – 2002
• Photographer of the Year, Rencontres d’ Arles – 2002
• Top 10 Exhibition, Vince Aletti, Artforum – 2002
• PhotoEspana, Best Photographic Book of the Year, Spain – 2001
• Photo-eye, Best Documentary Title, Best Photography Books of 2001
• Sani Festival, Best Solo Exhibition, Greece, 2000
• Special mention: UNICEF Photo of the Year 2001

 MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

• Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
• Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Alabama, USA
• Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA
• Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
• Durban Art Gallery, Durban, South Africa
• Fotomuseum, Munchen, Germany
• George Eastman House, Rochester, New York, USA
• Haifa Museum of Art, Israel
• Hasselblad, Goteborg, Sweden
• High Museum of Art, Atlanta, USA
• Johannesburg Art Museum, South Africa
• Los Angeles County Museum of Art, USA
• Louisiana Museum, Denmark
• Maison Europeene de la Photographie, Paris
• Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester. United Kingdom
• MONA Museum, Hobart, Tasmania
• Musée de la Photographie á Charleroi, Belguim
• Musee de l’Elysee , Lausanne, Switzerland
• Museet for Fotokunst, Denmark
• Museo nazionale Della Fotographia, Brescia, Italy
• Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
• Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, USA
• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA
• Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
• National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
• National Museum of Film and Photography, Bradford UK
• Palm Springs Art Museum, California
• Pushkin Museum, Moscow, Russia
• Oliewenhuis, Bloemfontein, South Africa
• Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Spencer Art Museum, Kansas, USA
• State Museum of Russia, Moscow, Russia
• Tate Britain, London, UK
• Tel Aviv Museum, Israel
• Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
• Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Virginia, USA
• Asylum of the Birds, Thames and Hudson, 2014.
• Roger Ballen and Die Antwoord, I Fink U Freeky, published by Random House Prestel, July 2013
• Roger Ballen, Photo Poche. Introduction by Dominique Eddé. France, 2012
• Animal Abstraction. Introduction by Wim Pijbes . REFLEX Amsterdam, 2011
• Roger Ballen Photographs 1969 – 2009. Introduction by Ulrich Pohlman.
• Kerber Verlag, Bielefeld. 2010
• Boarding House. Introduction by David Travis. Phaidon Press, London 2009
• Shadow Chamber. Introduction by Robert A Sobieszek. Phaidon Press, London 2005
• Introduction by Peter Weiermair. Phaidon Press, London 2001
• Cette Afrique lá. Introduction by Lionel Murcott. Photo Pouche series, Editions Nathan Paris 1997.
• Platteland, Images of a Rural South Africa. Introduction by Roger Ballen. William Waterman Publications 1994, Quartet Books, London 1994, St Martins Press, New York 1996.
• Dorps, Small Towns of South Africa. Introduction by Roger Ballen. Clifton Publications, South Africa. 1986.
• Introduction by Roger Ballen. Chelsea House Publishers, New York-London 1979.
• Shadowland Photographs, Manchester Art Gallery, 2012
• Roger Ballen Playpen, North-West University, Potchefstroom, SA
• Roger Ballen at Modern Art Projects (MAP), Richmond, SA, 2011
• Roger Ballen. Seravezza Fotografia 2011, Palazzo Mediceo, Seravezza, Italy. January – April 2011
• High Speed Insanity: the exhibition. Blomqvist Fine Art, Oslo, Norway. June – August 2011
• Roger Ballen. Museu de Arte Contemporanea de Niteroi. 19 March – 15 May 2011
• Iziko South African National Gallery, 2010-2011
• Shadow Chamber, Galeria Senda, Barcelona, 2010
• (Re)construcoes: arte contemporanea da Africa do Sul. Museu de Arte Contemporanea de Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. March – May 2010
• Abitare Mondi – Living Worlds. Savignano Immagini Festival, Italy, 2010
• Massimo Minini, Sentences, 2010
• PEEKABOO! Current South Africa. Helsinki Art Museum Tennis Palace, Finland, 2010
• Roger Ballen Retrospective, Centro de Arte La Regenta, March – April 2010
• Skotia Gallery, First Biennial Photography Invitational. Skotia Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. May – June 2010
• Roger Ballen Storie. Museo Riva del Garda, Italy. June – August 2010
• Roger Ballen Fotografien 1969 – 2010, Munchner Stadtmuseum, 2010
• The Arresting Image. Pimsoll Gallery, University of Tasmania Centre for the Arts, 2009.
• Roger Ballen Retrospektiva 1982 – 2004, Mid-career retrospective & Boarding House. Gelrija Fotografia, Ljubjana, Slovenia, 2009
• Festival Punto Aparte, Bendita Locura, Italy. May – June 2009
• Darkroom, Photography and new media in South Africa since 1950, VMFA, 2009
• Roger Ballen: Boarding House. OCAD Professional Gallery, Ontario, Canada. March – May 2009
• Roger Ballen; 1982–2009, La Triennale di Milano, November 2009
• The Portrait: Photography as Stage, Vienna. July – September 2009
• Brutal, Tender, Human, Animal, National Library of Australia, Canberra, Australia. November 2008
• Dietro l’ombra: fotografie di Roger Ballen. Villanova Monteleone, Sardinia. 2008
• The Sorrow of Death, BWA Katowice, Poland, November, 2008
• Omaggio Federico Vender, Italy, 2007
• Reflex New Art Gallery, Amsterdam, 2005
• The Third Body, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Germany 2004
• The Photograph as Contemporary Art, UK 2004
• Roger Ballen: L’humanite pour pretexte. Toulouse, France. January – March 2004
• Lateral Thinking, Art of the 1990’s, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
• Galleria Carla Sozzani, Milano, Italy January 2003
• Fact & Fiction, Galerie Kamel Mennour, Paris France, March 2003
• Photographers’ Gallery Press no. 2, Japan
• Das Geheimnis Der Photographie, Germany, 2003
• La Natura Della Natura Morta – Fotographia, Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Bologna Italy, 2002
• Dislocación – Imagen & Identidad Sudafrica, Spain, 2002
• National Portrait Gallery, John Kobal, Photographic Portrait Award 2002 Ten years: a celebration 1993 – 2002
• Africa Inside, Noorderlicht, The Netherlands, 2000
• A Thousand Hounds, Raymond Merritt & Miles Barth, 2000
• National Museum of Photography of Film & Television, United Kingdom, New Natural History, 1999
• Introduction to that Africa, Lionel Murcott, Mesiac Fotografie, November 1999
• Lumo ’98, Shadows, Finland, 1998
• South African National Gallery, Contemporary South African Photography, 1998
• Double Vie, Double Vue, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, 1997
• Asylum of the Birds, Director Ben Crossman and Roger Ballen. 2014
• Behind the Scenes with Die Antwoord and Roger Ballen, by Peter Schiering
• I fink you Freeky. Music Video. Die Antwoord, Directed by Roger Ballen and Ninja. 2012
• Directed by Roger Ballen and Saskia Vredeveld. The Netherlands Film Fund. 2012
• Memento Mori. Saskia Vredeveld The Netherlands Film Fund, 2005
• Netherlands Broadcasting Cooperation . Selfportrait, Roger Ballen. 2002
• ITV Television . Platteland, Images from Rural South Africa. South Bank Show, London. 1995.
• South African Broadcasting Corporation. Dorps, Small Towns of South Africa. Film documentary on Roger Ballen’s book. 1986.
• Social Work: Roger Ballen,  Trouble Magazine , 9 December 2013
• Aletti, Vince.  Livres : Roger Ballen, Lucas Foglia, Danny Lyon, pg 74 -75
• Pension élémentaire , 20 August 2013, in Libération
• Pisani, Giulio-Enrico . Roger Ballen : Être humain n’est pas un bain à l’eau de rose , 27 September 2013
• Kim Aram. Roger Ballen.  Blink,  January, 2013
• Tatyana Sochiva. On the Dark side.  The St. Petersburg Times,  Issue # 1734, November, 7, 2012
• Ann Tolstova. “I went to quite some separate plate”,  ru , 11 April 2014
• Ann Tolstova. Still Psychology,  ru , 11 April 2014

South Africa

• Notes from Roger Ballen.  On Route Magazine , April 2013
• Adam Haupt. The White English-speaker who went ‘native’ – and global.  Mail and Guardian , October, 5 to 11, 2012
• Andile Ndlovu. Die Antwoord get freeky in US.  The Times,  February, 7, 2012
• Grethe Koen. The light and the dark.  Dossier , Winter 2012
• Steyn du Toit. Pushing boundaries.  The Sunday Independent , October, 14, 2012,
• Graham, M. The light comes from the dark, 2013,  in  Arterritory
• Graham, M. Gaisma rodas no tumsas, 2014,  Arterritory

United Kingdom

• Rosen, M. Roger Ballen: Asylum of the Birds.  L’oeil de la Photographie,  29 May 2014
• Williams, E. An interview with Roger Ballen.  Creative Review . 1 May 2014
• Heidi Erdmann and Ivor Powell. Roger Ballen/Die Antwoord.  Dante Magazine , February, 14, 2013
• Lucy Davies. Enter the Asylum.  The British Journal of Photography.  April 2012
• Susan Connie. A conversation with Roger Ballen.  Under the Influence , November 2012, The African Issue F/W 2012

United States of America

• Zeiser, John. Asylum of the Birds,  The Picture Professional , Issue 2/2014,pg. 60
• Babej, Marc Erwin. Video & Interview: Roger Ballen’s Asylum of the Birds,  Americanphotomag , 3 March 2014
• Joseph Akel. Roger Ballen, 2015,  Art Forum
• Joseph Akel. Roger Ballen’s Unsettling, Avian-themed New book is worth two in the bush,  V Magazine,  March 26, 2014
• Jonathan Blaustein. Roger Ballen.  The Shpilman Institute for Photography,  March, 20, 2013
• Russell Joslin. Roger Ballen.  Shots No. 119,  Spring 2013
• Paul Laster. 10 Contemporary Outsider Artists Everyone Should Know.  Flavorwire , February, 01, 2013
• Roger Ballen. Portfolio by Roger Ballen: Foreign Emotions,  The New Yorker , April, 29, 2013
• Reality Blurs: Artists Statement.  Hayden’s Ferry , Spring/Summer 2013
• Sarah Rhodes. Roger Ballen: On the Subconcious.  Timemachine , February, 11, 2013
• Susan Bright. Photographers-Turned –Directors: Susan Bright’s favourite on MOCAtv.  Time LightBox , October, 9, 2012
• Ten questions for photographer Roger Ballen.  Phaidon , November, 26, 2012
• Erica Campbell. The Dark side: Roger Ballen’s ‘Asylum’.  Time LightBox , March, 6, 2012

Lens Culture: Conversations with Photographers  (2012, 10:20 min.)

Roger Ballen,  The Theatre of Apparitions, 2016 HD Video, 5:00 min.

Roger Ballen interview on Channel 1 Israel

EXHIBITIONS

The Theatre of Apparitions

Jun 17 - Jul 15, 2022

Dec 22, 2016 - Jan 17, 2017

Jan 2 - Feb 2, 2020

French Salon

Mar 8 - Apr 27, 2018

PUBLICATIONS

ROGER BALLEN | THEATRE OF APPARITIONS

i24 NEWS (Eng)

City Mouse (Heb)

Saloona (Heb)

Makor Rishon (Heb)

CNN Style (Eng)

‘Galleria’ Haaretz (Heb)

Nana 10 (Heb)

Feature Shoot (Eng)

The Guardian (Eng)

Maariv (Heb)

Roger Ballen , Dresie Casie Twins , 1993

Archival Pigment Print , 150 x 150 cm

Roger Ballen , Sergeant F de Bruin, Department of Prisons Employee, Orange Free State , 1992

Roger Ballen , Mimicry , 2005

Roger Ballen , Brian with Pet Pig , 1998

Roger Ballen , Bent Back , 2001

Roger Ballen , Bitten , 2004

Roger Ballen , Courtyard View , 2001

Roger Ballen , Hanging Pig , 2001

Roger Ballen , Head Below Wires , 1999

Roger Ballen , Hideaway , 2003

Roger Ballen , Man Drawing Chalk Faces , 2000

Roger Ballen , Man with Back to Viewer , 1998

Roger Ballen , Puppy Between Feet , 1999

Roger Ballen , School Room , 2003

Roger Ballen , Scream , 2012

Roger Ballen , Show Off , 2000

Roger Ballen , Twirling Wires , 2001

Roger Ballen , Amulet , 2011

Archival Pigment Print , 43 x 61 cm

Roger Ballen , Then and Now , 2007

Archival Pigment Print , 80 x 80 cm

Roger Ballen , Guardians , 2011

Archival Pigment Print , 61 x 43 cm

Roger Ballen , Feeding , 2012

Roger Ballen , The Back of the Mind , 2012

Roger Ballen , Shadows and Strangers , 2010

Archival Pigment Print , 61 x 61 cm

Roger Ballen , Waif , 2012

Roger Ballen , Stare , 2008

Roger Ballen , Spiky , 2007

Roger Ballen , Breakthrough , 2008

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Roger Ballen, photographer: are you ready to enter his world?

O n Tuesday, Roger Ballen, who was in Britain for the opening of a retrospective show of his work at Manchester gallery , gave a talk at Rudolf Steiner House in London. It was a strange event, part-performance, part-lecture and, as such, as unsatisfying to me as his later images. It made me think, at times, that photographers should not really talk about their work – especially when they are essentially telling us how to respond to it, as was the case here.

Ballen is a strange character. It is hard to know when he is being serious and when he is being mischievous. Like many photographers, he is not lacking in ego or self-confidence, nor, on this evidence, does he harbour the slightest doubts about his own genius. Aged 62, he is an American who has been shooting in black-and-white for more than 40 years, mostly in South Africa.

The lecture took us through his work from an early series, Dorps: Small Towns of South Africa , to the more conceptual work contained in books like Shadow Chamber (2005) and Boarding House (2009), where the images are formally rigorous and staged.

His early work, which he described as "romantic", often concentrated on poor white Afrikaners. Diane Arbus , who went unmentioned throughout, seems an obvious influence on two of his most famous and controversial photographs: Dresie and Casie, Twins, Western Transvaal (1993); or Sergeant F de Bruin, Department of Prison's Employee, Orange Free State, 1992, both of which come from his Platteland series. In his lecture he insisted that, while out driving, his eye was drawn initially to the little string dangling from a wire behind Sergeant de Bruin's head rather than that extraordinarily doleful face. He also insisted that our fascination with the mentally and physically handicapped twins, Dresie and Casie, was to do not with their almost outlandish appearance, but because "they're your cousins. You're related to them. You are seeing a picture of your insides." The question of whether he, like Arbus, was drawn to the human grotesque was not broached. Nor was our complicity as viewers – the very thing that gives these images another layer of disturbing power – acknowledged.

As he insisted more than once, Ballen is first and foremost a formalist. For me, though, the lecture grew less interesting as the work became ever more artful. The series Boarding House, published in book form in 2001, may mark the point where his photography tipped into conceptualism of a particularly brutal kind, though the title of another book, Fact or Fiction, from 2003, posits the question that reverberates through much of the later work.

"To discern fact from fiction in his work may be simply impossible," wrote Robert A Sobieszek in the introduction to Shadow Chamber. "To tell acting from real life may also be; to bother with such discernment may not only be futile but missing the point." As to what the point is, though, I am unsure, and more so since this talk.

I can accept that we enter what Ballen calls "Rogerworld" when we look at his work, at least insofar as certain recognisable tropes have now congealed into a kind of signature of sorts: scrawled wall drawings and graffiti made by him or his subjects or both; strange wire sculptures, masks, cats, rats, rabbits, mangy stuffed toys. It is an in-between place, a psychological hinterland between the real and the imagined. But it is also quite familiar. As Ballen moved from being a photographer to an artist, the texture of the images has also changed; the shadow of Joel-Peter Witkin hovers over Boarding House and Shadow Chamber just as Arbus stalked the earlier images.

For someone who insists that "words are deadly in this profession", Ballen certainly talks the talk, though often he appears to be contradicting himself. "I don't ask questions. I mind my business," he said of the often risky years spent making the pictures that make up Shadow Chamber and Boarding House. This just after a story of how, while photographing for Shadow Chamber in "a bad place" where "awful things" happened, he acquired a ball and chain off a prison guard, which was then used to curtail a troublesome boy whose nocturnal antics were so disruptive that they were putting his life at risk. By this stage, I was not sure I could take anything Ballen said at face value, but the story was a strange one, told matter-of-factly in all its casual cruelty. And there, in the photograph of the boy, whose face is obscured by a doll-like mask, is the ball and chain: props in another artful "collaboration". Metaphorical or otherwise, like much of Roger Ballen's late work, it leaves me cold.

Shadow Land: Photographs by Roger Ballen 1983–2011 is at Manchester Art Gallery until May 13 2012.

Now see this

The latest issue of Source magazine looks at the photographic archive in the digital age. Archivist, Nick Galvin, looks back over the last decade at the upheavals in commercial picture libraries, while various artists and photographers discuss the role of the archive in their work. There is also a sureally deadpan series of photographs of wigs by Sarah Eyre.

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Woodstock at 50

Roger Ballen Revisits His Never-Before-Published Woodstock Photos

The internationally renowned artist was just 19 when he took his trusty Nikon to the festival. Only one was ever published — till now.

“I parked somewhere in the night on that road, and then we were all walking towards the concert,” Roger Ballen said. “The thing was spontaneous chaos and then the chaos became transformed into a mythology.” Credit... Roger Ballen

Supported by

By Jessie Wender

• Aug. 6, 2019

When the American photographer Roger Ballen named his 2018 retrospective book “Ballenesque,” the title immediately conjured his distinctive aesthetic . His best-known images are unsettling portraits of people on the fringes of society, taken in interior spaces, the walls of which Ballen has covered with primitive drawings.

But long before he made his reputation in the art world, Ballen, who has made South Africa his home for nearly 40 years, found himself in a very different place, photographing a very different subject: Woodstock.

In the summer of 1969, Ballen was home in Westchester County after completing his first year studying psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. He went to Woodstock not just to enjoy the music but to document his experience. Already a budding photographer — his mother worked for the storied photo agency Magnum, and for a high school graduation gift, his parents gave him a Nikon FTN — Ballen shot three rolls of film at the festival. But he only ever published one of the photographs .

Curious about what Woodstock looked like through the eyes of an aspiring 19-year-old artist, we asked Ballen to return to the negatives, which he hadn’t looked at in 50 years.

“It was a jolt to the memory,” he said. “I was so excited. It’s like finding gems in the sand. It’s one of the nicest feelings that you can have when you’re involved in the history of your own work, to find things that you ignored or forgot about or didn’t come to terms with. And the fact that 50 years have gone by, which is also hard to reconcile.”

In a phone interview from Johannesburg, Ballen talked about the stories behind some of the photos and how that experience influenced his work. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

How did you end up at Woodstock?

I joined this camp called Camp Mohawk — it was in Westchester [N.Y.]. somewhere and I became a counselor there. There was this family day, and we had the children make the peace sign and say, “peace now, peace now.” We all got fired. A week later, Woodstock happened and I went up with one of the other counselors that got fired. I borrowed my mother’s car. It was a red Chevrolet station wagon. If you put down the seat in the middle, you could sleep in the back.

Do you remember watching any shows?

Oh, yeah, Janis Joplin. I remember most of them. The sound wasn’t amazing, and there was also a lot of crowds. It was hard to get around. There were no pathways where people were supposed to walk, so everybody was huddled around. To get food or go to the toilet, you had to walk over people. That was one thing that stuck in my mind. The other was there was a funny, awful smell in the mud. I don’t know what it was from, if it was fertilizer or a sewage problem or something. I remember people were passing around pills that they were saying was acid. There were pink ones and green ones. I thought to myself, it’s stupid to take something that you have no idea what’s in these. It could be arsenic for all I know.

What was it like photographing in a time when not everybody was doing it?

A person carrying a camera like that, a Nikon — you had to know something about what you were doing. It wasn’t something you could just pick up. Also, I was using film. It was black and white, so you had to process it and you had to know something about the speed of film and lighting. If you were more amateurish, you might buy a small Kodak camera that had a flash in it or take some Polaroid pictures. I was a stranger in that environment, but people were more comfortable being photographed, maybe because they were part of an event, and maybe felt they were making some sort of historical statement.

You’ve said that so much of photography is actually rooted in having experiences and not just sitting behind a camera or computer.

Yeah, this is the truth of the matter. When I grew up in photography, it was about getting on the street, experiencing events, getting in the middle of things, coming back with the goods and the experience to talk about. So you build up a sense of place, a sense of identity. After Woodstock, I made a five-year trip. Hitchhiked from Cairo to Cape Town, Istanbul to New Guinea, across South America. That experience had such a profound effect on everything after I did in my life.

Did being at Woodstock shape your photography?

At age 19, 20, 21, my work had something more to do with the social-political conditions. I guess they played a role in my getting to know the human experience, human endeavor, finding the moment, working with people, searching in difficult circumstances for something that stood out. If I had to say what are important aspects that run through the work, it’s trying to come to terms with pure chaos.

[ See all of our coverage of Woodstock at 50 .]

Are there elements in these pictures that have carried through to your work today?

The most important aspect of what I did at Woodstock in relation to what I do now is the pictures came together in a decisive moment that I tried to capture. I don’t photograph outdoors anymore. There aren’t many people in the pictures. For the last two years, all my pictures have been in color. In the last two years, I’ve stopped using film. But that one concept, the decisive moment, is the thing I’ve built on for the past 52 years.

Tell me about the bathing picture.

Far for me to judge what everybody’s life was about in America, but it was a period where sexuality started to become more talked about. You kept hearing “free love,” “free sex,” “group sex," this sort of thing. The concept of being nude — being free of constraints, being liberated — that was just part of the time. This probably wouldn’t have happened five years before that.

What about the older gentlemen there?

There was really a real gap between the so-called World War II generation and this so-called hippie generation, this younger bunch of people en masse questioning the values of the country. So there was this real, I wouldn’t say animosity, but there was a lack of sympathy. I’m sure if the older people walked past those bathers, they probably were talking about it 10 years later.

Looking at the pictures of crowds, does that spark anything in the way you see what was going on?

This is part of the whole myth of Woodstock. The place fell apart physically, but people were able to be congenial and enjoy the music, enjoy the place, not get into fights and be together in a very harmonious fashion. But it is important to understand, I think, that a lot of people’s impression of what Woodstock was about came from the movie. The movie solidified the experience in its own way. But like anything, in photography or in a movie, it focuses on particular experiences, and there were other aspects that weren’t very romantic at all.

What would be an example?

It would be the pouring rain and lack of food or getting stuck in traffic, or being wet all the time, and sitting around waiting for a band to come onstage for an hour, and then the sound wasn’t right. What’s interesting is that somebody growing up in a suburban household — because most of the people there were probably from white, middle-class, more liberal backgrounds — hadn’t ever experienced that sort of physical difficulty before. I don’t think anybody would even think about getting wet or getting muddy or having to wait for food. It became a very profound experience for a lot of people.

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Roger ballen.

• Exhibitions
• Publications

Roger Ballen was born in New York. He moved to Johannesburg in 1982 where he lives and works.

He is one of the most influential and important photographic artists of the 21st century; his photographs span over forty years. Ballen’s strange and extreme works confront the viewer and challenge them to come with him on a journey into their own minds as he explores the deeper recesses of his own.

His contribution has not been limited to stills photography. Ballen has been the creator of many acclaimed and exhibited short films that dovetail with his photographic series’. The collaborative film I Fink You Freeky, created for the cult band Die Antwoord in 2012, has garnered over 125-million hits on YouTube.

Roger Ballen’s work is included in more than forty prestigious museum collections, among which Tate Britain, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Musee de l’Elysee, Lausanne; and Maison Europeene de la Photographie, Paris, to name a few.

His first photography book, Boyhood was published in the late 1970s, followed by Dorps in 1986, Platteland in 1994 and Outland in 2001, among others. His most recent series, Asylum of the Birds was published by Thames & Hudson in March 2014. Among his many awards, he was the winner of the Rencontres d'Alres in 2002 and the Art Directors Club Award in 2006. His I Fink U Freeky video won the award for best video at the Portuguese festival Short Vila do Conde International Film Festival in 2012.

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Experimental Photography with Roger Ballen

Develop the ability to effectively express psychological identities.

The aim of the class is to enable participants to more effectively express their own psychological identities and better integrate the subjectivity that is involved in aesthetic photography.

Better understand the aesthetics of Roger Ballen’s photography and his artistic practice as well as an understanding of the business of art photography and what it entails.

Born in the US and based in Johannesburg, South Africa, Roger Ballen is one of the most important photographers of his generation. He has published over 25 books internationally and has collections in the most prominent museums in the world.

His most recent publication is entitled Roger the Rat and was published by Hatje Cantz in 2020.

In 2017, Thames and Hudson published his book Ballenesque, Roger Ballen – A Retrospective, a major survey of his collected works. Recently, Thames and Hudson released a second volume in paperback.

His oeuvre, which spans five decades, began with the documentary photography field but evolved into the creation of distinctive fictionalized realms that also integrate the mediums of film, installation, theatre, sculpture, painting and drawing. Ballen describes his works as “existential psychodramas” that touch the subconscious mind and evoke the underbelly of the human condition. They aim to break through the repressed thoughts and feelings by engaging him in themes of chaos and order, madness or unruly states of being, the human relationship to the animal world, life and death, universal archetypes of the psyche and experiences of otherness. Through his unique, complex visual language, and universal and profound themes, the artist has made a lasting contribution to the field of art.

Ballen has also been the creator of several acclaimed and exhibited short films that dovetail with his photographic series. In 2022, he was one of the artists that represented South African at the Venice Biennale Arte.

He is also the founder and executive director of the Inside Out Centre for the Arts in Johannesburg, which opened to the public in March 2023. The Centre aims to promote an awareness of African related issues through exhibitions and educational programmes. Its first show, entitled End of the Game, explores the decimation of wildlife in Africa both through historical artifacts and Ballen’s photographs and installations.

One of the most influential and important photographic artists of the 21st century, Roger Ballen’s photographs span over forty years. His strange and extreme works confront the viewer and challenge them to come with him on a journey into their own minds as he explores the deeper recesses of his own.

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.

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’. The collaborative film I Fink You Freeky, created for the cult band Die Antwoord in 2012, has garnered over 125-million hits on YouTube. He has taken his work into the realms of sculpture and installation, at Paris’ Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature (2017), Australia’s Sydney College of the Arts (2016) and at the Serlachius Museum in Finland (2015) is to name but a few. The spectacular installation at Les Rencontres d’Arles 2017, “House of the Ballenesque” was voted as one of the best exhibitions for 2017. In 2018 at the Wiesbaden Biennale, Germany, another installation “Roger Ballen’s Bazaar/Bizarre” was created in an abandoned shopping centre.

Ballen’s series, The Theatre of Apparitions (2016), is inspired by the sight of these hand-drawn carvings on blacked-out windows in an abandoned women’s prison.

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.

In September 2017 Thames & Hudson published a large volume of the collected photography with extended commentary by Ballen titled Ballenesque Roger Ballen: A Retrospective.

Halle Saint Pierre in Paris opened an exhibition September 6th 2019 titled The World According to Roger Ballen. Thames & Hudson published the book in French and English to accompany the show. His work took over the entire space for more than a year closing in January 2021. The World According to Roger Ballen has since been successfully exhibited at Jakopic Gallery in Ljubljana, Slovenia; as well as the Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague.

In October 2020, Hatje Cantz released Roger the Rat which was produced in Johannesburg between 2015 and 2020. Here Ballen creates and documents a part-human, part-rat creature who lives an isolated life outside of mainstream society. This book presents the cycle of photographs in the form of an impressive show that keeps the reader reflecting long after the last page. Ballen also produced a film that accompanies the book launch during October 2020.

Roger Ballen’s website is www.rogerballen.com.

If you want to be kept informed about Roger Ballen, you can go on his Facebook page , Instagram or follow   Eyes in Progress .

«It's always a very crucial point when you look at art work, why that certain work stick in the mind and then last and why is a lot of it fleeting, and that's an important thing for me in terms of being an artist, that stuff sticks in people mind, doesn't get out of the mind and is turned over in the mind, and comes out and also it's a way to actually extends the consciousness of the person which to me is the purpose of art at least for the viewer" Roger Ballen  

During this workshop, students will engage with the process of making photographs, reviewing and critiquing works in order to gain a better understanding of the medium and its relationship to other means of experimentation.

Day 1 - Saturday:

Masterclass - Projections Roger Ballen will spend time talking about his own work and the different projects he has worked on. He will share his aesthetics references with the group and discuss his artistic practice.

Portfolios reviews and projects definition Each participant will receive and in-depth critique of their work. In order to make the most of the workshop days, participants are highly encouraged to come to the workshop with defined ideas on the subject they want to photograph during the workshop.

Masterclass - Projections Roger Ballen will talk about experimentation in the photographic process throughout artistic collaborations and other means of making art (drawing, sculpture, ...).

Day 2 - Sunday:

Shooting session

The group goes early morning in an antique market or a vintage shop and each participant gathers a few objects. Then, the group goes in a selected place in which participants can shoot their project under Roger Ballen's supervision.

Day 3 - Monday:

Final portfolio editing Each participant will work on a large edit of his images, then they are printed and laid down on a table (10x15 or contact sheet format). The final editing is made during a one-to-one session with Roger Ballen, the other participants are encouraged to attend the sessions of the others. Once the final edit is done, the participants may work on the post-process of their best images. They are then to write a personal statement on the work, which will be send to the evaluation committee member of their choice.

Final projections

Teaching language: English.

Workshop hours: 9h30 to 17h30.

Previous Workshops

- Only 9 students will be admitted for each session. Students will be granted admission to the workshop based on a review of a selection of 10 of their photographs.

- The 1.650€ fee does not include transport, accommodation nor on the ground expenses. For participants coming from outside the European Union, please be aware that there is a bank fee when making the payments via bank transfer. In order to avoid them, you can use alternative systems such as Transferwise.

- In order to confirm your application, an advance payment of €100 is advised. Once the application is completed, we will send an email via PayZen to the participant in order to settle the payment. If the candidate is accepted, this amount will be deducted from the overall cost of the workshop.

- In case the participation is not confirmed, he will get a full pay back of the 100€ fee.

- If accepted, the participant will receive a course contract confirming the success of his application by email.

- To confirm registration, the participant must return this contract to us, signed, within ten days, along with payment of 30% of the cost of the workshop. The participant will also receive an invoice.

- The rest of the fee must be paid by the first day of the workshop at the latest.

- A dossier in order to get prepared for the workshop will be sent to the participant at least two weeks before the workshop begins.

- If you're willing to participate in more than one workshop, we do offer a 10% discount on the following workshops' price.

Pre-requisite

- Successful candidates will be expected to arrive comfortable with their equipment and ready to photograph.

- Participants working digitally should bring their own laptops, and everything needed for digital editing.

- Participants are required to find their own accommodation in Marseille.

Education material

- Photo books

- Projector and screen

- 1 computer Macintosh

A technical assistant will be present during the workshop.

After the workshop

- The portfolios produced by each participant will be published on the site of Eyes in Progress.

- Mentors are photography experts such as a photo editors, journalists, creative directors, gallery curators, they will review these portfolios. The review, if written, will be published on the participant's page on Eyes in Progress.

- In case the participant does not want a portfolio review after the workshop, the workshop price can be reduced of 70€.

- Video interviews in which the students discuss their work, their motivation as photographers, as well as what they learned during the workshop will also be posted on the site. In case the participant is not willing to have his video online, we won't publish it, however, we do encourage to record the video anyways as a practical exercise on how to orally express himself as a photographer.

- Social media modules will be available in order to share the page with friends and contacts.

- Each participant will be awarded a certificate of completion of the course.

- The participants will be required to evaluate the workshop when it has been completed, to show their level of overall satisfaction and the extent of their acquisition of new skills. These evaluations will help us to improve our workshops.

- If the participant is not willing to have his profile online (portfolio, review, video), we will of course respect his decision and will not publish it.

Applications will be open until April 4th 2024.

- Eyes in Progress reserves the right to cancel groups with less than 7 participants. Students will be given either a full refund or offered a place with an alternative photographer. In the event of a cancellation, students will be given at least 3 weeks advance notice. Eyes in Progress reserves the right to change or alter the program advertised.

- If a participant decides to cancel for whatever reason, this must be confirmed in writing:

. Eyes in Progress will reimburse all the registration costs except for the €100 administrative fee, if the participant informs Eyes in Progress of cancellation at least 3 weeks before the first day of the workshop. Beyond this time limit, Eyes in Progress will charge the following:

. 50% of the cost if cancelled between 6 and 20 days before the workshop commences.

. 100% of the cost if cancelled less than 5 days before the workshop commences.

. All workshops that are commenced but not completed through the fault of the participant need to be paid in full.

- Eyes in Progress is not responsible for reimbursement of travel expenses in case a workshop is cancelled. We recommend that you buy refundable air tickets and/or travel insurance.

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Publications

Call of the Void (2023)

Roger Ballen. Call of the Void  is the eighth in a series of exhibitions at Museum Tinguely under the title  Danse macabre  with works responding to Jean Tinguely’s late work  Mengele Totentanz  (Kehrer 2017).

Boyhood: Expanded Edition (2022)

This new and expanded edition of Roger Ballen’s widely acclaimed 1979 photobook  Boyhood  features new and unpublished images taken by the photographer in the ‘70.

Ballenesque, Roger Ballen: A Retrospective, Paperback Edition (2022)

Now available in paperback, Ballenesque takes readers on a visual, chronological journey through Roger Ballen’s entire oeuvre, including both iconic images and previously unpublished photographs.

Roger the Rat (2020)

In these sixty black-and-white photographs Ballen creates a persona, Roger the Rat. Here, Ballen unveils a selection of uncanny photographs so completely different from his previous work, yet still possessing the unmistakable Ballenesque aesthetic.

The World According to Roger Ballen (2019)

The World According to Roger Ballen , co-authored with Colin Rhodes, looks at Ballen’s career in the wider cultural context beyond photography, including his connections with and collections of Art Brut.

Ballenesque, Roger Ballen: A Retrospective (2017)

With over 300 photographs, Ballenesque provides not only an entirely new way of seeing Ballen’s work, but also a comprehensive introduction for those encountering his photographs for the first time.

Unleashed  (2017)

Unleashed , a collaboration between Roger Ballen and Dutch draftsman Hans Lemmen, reveals a universe of surreal truths born out of a dialogue between their respective mediums of photography and drawing.

No Joke  (2016)

No Joke , the revolutionary collaborative series by Roger Ballen and Asger Carlsen. The self-contained series of 37 black-and-white photographs premieres in its entirety.

The Theatre of Apparitions (2016)

A ground-breaking monograph from Roger Ballen, it’s both a departure from his existing oeuvre and the culmination of his unique aesthetic, linking image-making and theatrical performance.

Asylum of the Birds (2014)

Roger Ballen’s masterful new monograph showcases photographs taken entirely within the confines of a house in a Johannesburg suburb, the location of which remains a tightly guarded secret.

I Fink U Freeky (2013)

Art photography meets popular culture in this behind-the-scenes look at the making of a hugely successful music video by musicians Die Antwoord and photographer Roger Ballen.

Boarding House (2009)

Boarding House is a journey of discovery in which we leave our ordinary selves behind and confront a primitive part of the human condition and its psyche, occupying its own universe.

Shadow Chamber (2005)

Exploring the underbelly of existence, Roger Ballen’s striking, ambiguous images of people, animals and objects posed in mysterious, cell-like rooms occupy the grey area between fact and fiction.

Outland (2001)

Outland is the culmination of almost twenty years work for artist-photographer Roger Ballen and amounts to one of the most extraordinary photographic documents of the late twentieth century.

Platteland (1994)

For almost two decades, Roger Ballen photographed subjects in the South African countryside, searching for aesthetic symbols to convey a sense of the place and the people.

Dorps (1986)

The images in Dorps: Small Towns of South Africa define a body of work which is surely one of the purest and strongest aesthetic statements ever made in South African photography.

Boyhood (1979)

Each stunning photograph (culled from 15,000 boy photos shot during Ballen’s four-year quest) depicts the magic of boys revealed in their games, their adventures, their dreams, their mischief.