Roger Ballen’s photographs span nearly 40 years; strange, extreme works that confront the viewer and challenge them to journey with the artist into their own minds as he explores the recesses of his own.
“Ballen was born in New York in 1950, but for over 30 years, he has lived and worked in South Africa,” said gallery spokesperson Cassey Delissen.
She added that, at first, Ballen explored 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,” she said.
“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, Ballen no longer looked to the countryside for his subject matter – he found it closer to home, in Joburg.
“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’,” she said.
In Ballen’s more recent series, such as Boarding House and now, Asylum of the Birds, the line between fantasy and reality has become increasingly blurred.
The artist 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,” said Delissen.
“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.”
The Asylum of the Birds will run from 31 July until 27 August at Circa on Jellicoe, 2 Jellicoe Avenue, Rosebank.
Details: 011 788 4805; www.circaonjellicoe.co.za; www.asylumofthebirds.com
WATCH: Roger Ballen’s video, The Asylum of the Birds:
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