The World According to Roger Ballen

Roger Ballen is one of the most influential and important photographic artists of the 21st century, with a career that spans more than 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.

It’s the margins of society and the darker side of the human spirit that have always fascinated the world-famous photographer and artist Roger Ballen (an American who lives and works in the South African city of Johannesburg). Ballen came to international notice in 1994 with his black-and-white photo series Platteland. The images showed the grim reality of life for poor white South Africans, a group living in wretched conditions despite all their privileges during the Apartheid era. In the course of his career, Ballen has turned to making installations, in which he mingles the macabre reality with stage sets and props. People, dolls, rats and reptiles feature against a background of drawings of primitive figures. This distinctive ‘Ballenesque style’ enables him to create his own universe and has made Ballen a cult figure, especially among the young.

In the exhibition The World According to Roger Ballen, through photographs and films, we invite the visitor to become part of Roger Ballen’s world.

'A photograph can confirm what we implicitly understand but cannot express. In my opinion, the best images are those for which we cannot find words.'
– Roger Ballen

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SUNDAY 4 MAY 2025

We invite you to join us for an ARTIST TALK & BOOK SIGNING with Roger Ballen on Sunday 4 May. (For more information: See Facebook event)

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