In conversation with Roger Ballen

American-born, Ballen spoke to the Gazette on the opening night of his exhibition, Asylum of the Birds.

The exhibition which opened at Circa on Jellicoe in Rosebank showcases iconic photographs taken by Ballen in the confines of a house in a Johannesburg suburb of which the location has been kept a secret.

Ballen’s photography has been described as “strange and extreme” and as “confronting the viewer and challenging them to journey with the artist into their own minds as he explores the recesses of his own”.

Walking into the gallery one is welcomed by a scarecrow seated in the middle of the room, a caged mannequin next to it and a sullen voice coming from the ceiling of the gallery.

Ballen walks around the room as though he is seeing it all for the first time and upon introduction the photographer makes reference to a white dove sitting in a small cage resting on the centre piece.

“He was born here,” he said as he pointed to his photographs.

As other photographers filled the room moving from one photograph to the next, trying to interpret the messages Ballen was trying to deliver in each piece, one could see admiration from some while there was seemingly some confusion from others.

Speaking to the Gazette, Ballen said people’s perception of his work was a not a reflection on the person he was, but rather a reflection on the issues society has failed to deal with.

Ballen brushed off the idea that his work depicted some sort of darkness saying what others deemed as a dark side, was instead according to him, a “mirror to society’s fears”.

“People have been taught to be scared of their own emotions, their own instincts and their own identities. In our society, there is no force that allows for humans to accept that the dark side is as much of the human condition as is the light,” he explained.

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Roger Ballen’s mind metaphors at Circa