The New York-born photographer, Roger Ballen - who has been based in South Africa for over thirty years now- is one of the most recognized and innovative photographers of his generation. The son of a Magnum Photo editor, Roger Ballen became involved in photography at the age of thirteen. After graduating with a degree in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1972, he did a PhD in Mineral Economics, which he completed in 1982. It was at this point that Ballen decided to buy a 6x6 Rolleiflex. The square format of this camera characterises his photography - it constitutes a perfect form in which all dimensions are equally represented. Producing mainly black and white photographs, Ballen masters this medium. He uses his camera to capture something both radical and indescribable: the psyche. Images are first set up and then photographed - they look to reveal the innermost part of our being. Archetypes rise to the surface, more or less abruptly, and are prevalent in the images.
As mysterious as they are explicit, Ballen's works trigger epiphanies, moments enabling his spectators to grasp the inexplicable. Roger Ballen was born in New York in 1950. In 1982, he moved to Johannesburg where he still lives and works today. His first photography book, Boyhood, was published in the late 1970s, followed by Dorps in 1986, Platteland in 1994 and Outland in 2001, among others. His most recent series, Asylum of the Birds, was published by Thames & Hudson in March 2014. Among his many awards, he won the Rencontres d'Arles in 2002 and the Art Directors Club Award in 2006. His I Fink U Freeky video also won the award for best video at the Portuguese festival Short Vila do Conde International Film Festival in 2012. Roger Ballen's works are included in several of the most important contemporary art collections in the world, including the Tate Britain collection, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris.
Gallery from home | Roger Ballen
© Roger Ballen and Galerie Karsten Greve
Publications
Works
Exhibitions
Fotomuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands
National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece
Jakopič Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Francisco Carolinum, Linz, Austria
Halle Saint Pierre, Paris, France
MOMus-Museum of Photography, Thessaloniki, Greece
The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Tampa, FL, USA
Center of Photography, Montevideo, Uruguay
Centrale for Contemporary Art, Brussels, Belgium
Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France
Latvian Museum of Photography, Riga, Latvia
Centro Cultural Kavlin, Punta del Este, Uruguay
City Art Gallery, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Modern Art Museum, Gebre Kristos Desta Center, Addis Ababa, Ethopia
Museu da Fotografia Fortaleza, Fortaleza, Brazil
Hessisches Staatstheater, Wiesbaden, Germany
El Centro de Extension Alfonso Lagos (CECAL UdeC), Chillán, Chile
School of the Photographic Arts, Ottawa, Canada
PH Photo Centre, Cape Town, South Africa
Galerie Karsten Greve, St. Moritz, Schwitzerland
Centro Cultural, Santiago de Chili, Chile
Maison des Peintres, Arles, France
La ERRE, City of Guatemala, Guatemala
John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, USA
Festival Off Photo España, Madrid, Spain
Kunstsammlung Jena, Jena, Germany
Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, USA
Guangdong Museum, Guangdong, China
Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, Istanbul, Turkey
Von der Heydt Kunsthalle, Wuppertal, Germany
James Fuentes Gallery, New York, USA
Pori Art Museum, Pori, Finland
Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne, Germany
New Delhi, India
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago de Chili, Chile
Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil
Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, Germany
Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France
MACRO – Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma, Rome, Italy
Atlas Sztuki, Lotz, Poland
Kulungwana, Maputo, Mozambique
Festival de la Luz, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Musée Nicéphore Niépce, Chalon-sur-Saône, France
Kunst- und Kulturzentrum, Monschau, Germany
Museum Dr. Guislain, Gand, Belgium
Fotografiska, Stockholm, Sweden
Moscow Media Centre, Moscow, Russia
Museu Oscar Niemeyer, Curitiba, Brasilia
Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels, Belgium
Bonnefaunten Museum, Maastricht, Netherlands
Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Schwitzerland
Foam Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Musée de la Chasse, Paris, France
National Museum of History and Immigration, Paris, France
Haus der Photographie, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany
DZ Bank Kunstsammlung, Berlin, Germany