Roger Ballen as a visionary artist Roger Ballen is a visionary artist, who with his research reveals a surreal and often disturbing universe, populated by freak characters, claustrophobic settings and enigmatic symbolism. His images testify to journeys into the abyss of the human psyche, where reality and dream mix in a complex interweaving of meanings and interpretations. Born in New York in 1950, Ballen has lived in South Africa for forty years. During his fifty-year research he has undertaken numerous paths, which led him to challenge the conventional areas of photography, to explore the de ..read more

Antinomies Disturbing projections. Roger Ballen and Joel-Peter Witkin by Mauro Zanchi 20/03/2024 The closeness between the works of Joel-Peter Witkin and Roger Ballen’s works trigger other gloomy other gloomy that create tuned dissonances. The atmosphere of a photograph penetrates the other that is placed next door, even at a distance of thousands of kilometers and years. The thread that links the images of the two American artists is a report of details and short circuits. Something similar to what happened in the iconological lessons of the late nineteenth century is put into action ..read more

MUSEE MAGAZINE – Vanguard of Photography Culture Roger Ballen & Joel-Peter Witkin: The Uncanny Lens / La Lente Inquietante | Castel Ivano Written by Max Wiener Photo Edited by Kelly Woodyard Black and white photography is as raw as it gets. The human condition looks truly real when its color is stripped, left only with the bleakness of its truth. Instead of giving minute, kaleidoscopic focal points around the piece, we are left inside the depths of our minds. When our perception of this unclouded reality is warped, it is then when  we will understand the true nature of what it means ..read more

A joint exhibition by the two most surprising contemporary photographers: Joel-Peter Witkin and Roger Ballen. This is what offers the Castel Ivano in Trentino, Italy. The Uncanny Lens / La Lente Inquietante is an exhibition aimed at showcasing the photographic works of two renowned artistic figures, Joel-Peter Witkin and Roger Ballen. Both artists are known for their distinctive and unconventional approaches to black-and-white photography, the human condition, the human psyche and the grotesque. The proposed exhibition seeks to encourage an exploration of the unconscious mind through photo ..read more

  Les Douches la galerie : Roger Ballen : Enigma https://loeildelaphotographie.com/en/les-douches-la-galerie-roger-ballen-enigma/   Les Douches la Galerie presents, for the first time this Fall, a solo show by Roger Ballen, including his early series from the 80s and 90s. The South African photographer has been exploring the twists and turns of his subconscious for over forty years, creating stagings which invoke the themes of marginality, strangeness, the relationship between the human and animal worlds.   Enigma Interview by Philippe Séclier You were born in New York and studi ..read more

Roger Ballen Takes Us Into ‘The Void’ By Ellyn Kail on September 17, 2023   Headless, 2006   Roger Ballen first heard the ancient myth of Icarus, the boy who flew too close to the sun, when he was six years old. “He put together wax and feathers and started flying towards the sun,” the photographer reminds me. “But the sun was too hot, and unfortunately, the wax melted and he fell into the sea and drowned.” It’s a story that left a mark on the artist’s subconscious, and its influence becomes apparent in his project Asylum of the Birds. “The myth of Icarus has always had an important ..read more

Photographers on Photographers: Suzanne T. White in Conversation with Roger Ballen Courtyard View, 2001   Roger Ballen generously took the time to speak with me via Zoom from South Africa. It was truly an honor to interview him as I have been a fan of his for a long time. His work reaches into the psyche, it is deeply disturbing while also embracing the absurd. He depicts, constructs, and documents interiors, creating existential psychological dramas of people and animals that live on the edges of life, where we can experience through his art our alienation from the natural world. For me ..read more

Roger Ballen’s wildlife art The Independent July 27, 2023 ARTS, In The Magazine Renowned artist confronts destruction in latest art show Kampala, Uganda | AGENCIES | Often depicted as an integral feature of the continent, African wildlife, from iconic big beasts to its vast array of species, continues to attract millions of foreign travelers every year. But a new art exhibition in the heart of Johannesburg is questioning the relationship between humans and animals on the continent, which spans centuries and is often marked by the destruction and exploitation of African wildlife for commer ..read more

Renowned artist confronts destruction of African wildlife in latest art show By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Posted on June 10, 2023 Artist and photographer Roger Ballen watches as visitors enter the “Shack” installation during an exhibition tour at Inside Out Centre for the Arts in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, June 3, 2023. From the killing of elephants in the 18th century that began the ivory trade to the decimation of the rhino population from animal hunting, Ballen argues through his provocative art installations and multimedia artworks that humans remain at the forefront of the destruction o ..read more

Roger Ballen: Call of the Void / Museum Tinguely, Basel Roger Ballen: Call of the Void / Museum Tinguely, Basel By Enrico on 21. April 2023 Roger Ballen’s solo exhibition “Call of the Void” is the eighth in a series of exhibitions at Museum Tinguely in Basel that respond to Jean Tinguely’s work “Mengele – Dance of Death”. Ballen’s show consists of two parts: The center of the exhibition space is dominated by a shack, a poor dwelling for people on the margins of society, the walls of the space are hung with photographs from Roger Ballen’s last analogue series. Ballen writes: «My show that I ..read more