Roger Ballen is one of the most distinguished present-day photographers. He was born in New York, but for over 30 years has lived in South Africa, where he initially worked as a geologist. At the time, he made his first documentary photographs of small dorps and villages. In the 1990s, Ballen developed his own style, which he refers to as "documentary fiction". After 2000, he invited the people from the margins of South-African society he had photographed before to be actors in his disturbing Outland and Shadow Chamber series of photographs. His work is characterised by fragmentary presentation of human figure, with parts of the body replaced by drawings, photographs and masks. Other well-known series of Ballen`s photographs include: Dorps, Platteland, Boarding House, Asylum of the Birds. Ballen has also made films, including the I Fink U Freeky video for the South-African band Die Antwoord.
2002/2008
gelatin silver print, 40 x 40 cm,
signed on the reverse,
edition: 12/20
The Shadow Chamber series is another project where Ballen skilfully moves between documentary photography and artistic creation using painting, theatre and sculpture and blurring the border between fiction and reality. The book Shadow Chamber was published by Phaidon Press in 2005.
estimate: 14000 - 16000 zł
Roger Ballen is one of the most distinguished present-day photographers. He was born in New York, but for over 30 years has lived in South Africa, where he initially worked as a geologist. At the time, he made his first documentary photographs of small dorps and villages. In the 1990s, Ballen developed his own style, which he refers to as "documentary fiction". After 2000, he invited the people from the margins of South-African society he had photographed before to be actors in his disturbing Outland and Shadow Chamber series of photographs. His work is characterised by fragmentary presentation of human figure, with parts of the body replaced by drawings, photographs and masks. Other well-known series of Ballen`s photographs include: Dorps, Platteland, Boarding House, Asylum of the Birds. Ballen has also made films, including the I Fink U Freeky video for the South-African band Die Antwoord.