Born in New York 1950
Based in Johannesburg, South Africa since the early 1980s
One of the most influential and important photographic artists of the 21st century, Roger Ballen’s photographs span over 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.
Roger Ballen was born in New York in 1950 but for over 30 years he has lived and worked in South Africa. His work as a geologist took him out into the countryside and led him to take up his camera and explore the hidden world of small South African towns. At first he explored the 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. 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 he no longer looked to the countryside for his subject matter finding it closer to home in Johannesburg.
Over the past thirty years his distinctive style of photography has evolved using a simple square format in stark and beautiful black and white. 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’. After 2000 the people he first discovered and documented living on the margins of South African society increasingly became a cast of actors working with Ballen in the series’ Outland and Shadow Chamber collaborating to create powerful psychodramas.
The line between fantasy and reality in his more recent series’ Boarding House and Asylum of the Birds has become increasingly blurred and in these series he 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. 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.
Ballen has had over fifty exhibitions worldwide, and his work is represented in many museums, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 2013 the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution presented a major retrospective of his work, to critical acclaim.
Roger Ballen | CV
Born in New York 1950
Based in Johannesburg, South Africa since the early 1980s.
EDUCATION 1982 PhD, Mineral Economics, University of Colorado 1982 MS, Geology, University of Colorado. 1972 BA, Psychology, University of California. Berkeley.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2016
Zemack Contemporary Art, Tel aviv, Israel
Carpentier Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Central Academy of Fine Art Museum, Beijing
Centro Fotografico Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Mexico
Etherton Gallery, Tucson, United States
Fototeca, Monterrey, Mexico
Galleria Massimo Minini, Brescia, Italy
Gallery Momo, Cape Town
Gallery Momo, Johannesburg
Hamilton Gallery, London, UK
James Fuentes, New York City, United States
João Barbado – Lisboa, Portugal
Museo Arocena ,Torreón, Mexico
Natalie and James Thompson Art Gallery, San Jose State University, San Jose, United States
SNAP! Gallery, Orlando, Florida, United States
Southeast Musuem of Photography, Daytona, United States
Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, Australia
TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes/Museum Dr Guislain Gent
Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Museum of Image, Braga, Portugal
Photoink, New Delhi, India
Pori Art Museum, Pori , Finland
Serlachius Museum, Mänttä, Finland
2014
Atlas Sztuki, Lodz, Poland
Christophe Guye Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland
Circa Gallery, Johannesburg
Festival de la Luz, Buenos Aires
Fotografiska, Stockholm, Sweden
Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France
Galerie Karsten Greve, One Man Show “Asylum of the Birds”, Paris Photo, France
Kulungwana, Maputo, Mozambique
Kunst- und Kulturzentrum Monschau, Aachen, Deutschland
Moscow Media Centre, Moscow Russia
Musée Nicéphore Niépce, Chalon-sur-Saône, France
Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma, Rome, Italy
Museu Oscar Niemeyer, Brazil
Museum Dr. Guislain, Gent, Belgium
Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, Germany
Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa
Paris Photo, Grand Palais, Paris, France
2013
Belfast Photo Festival, Belfast, Northern Island
Galerie Clairefontaine, Luxembourg
Johannesburg Art Fair, South Africa
Maison De L’Image Documentaire, The CèTávoiR Association, Paris, France
Museum of Old and New, Hobart Australia
Nikolaj Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, Denmark
Photoink, New Delhi, India
Pingao International Photography Festival, China
Palm Springs Art Museum, California, USA
Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington DC, USA
Westlicht, Schauplatz fur Fotografie, Vienna, Austria
2012
Erdmann Contemporary & the Photographers Gallery za, Cape Town, South Africa
Guate Festival, Guatemala de la Asunción, Guatemala
Kleinschmidt Fine Photographs, Wiesbaden, Germany
Kunstalle, Vienna, Austria
Manchester Art Museum, England
Marta Herford Museum, Herford, Germany
Musee de l Elysee, Lausanne Switzerland
Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janiero, Brazil
Northwest University Museum, Potchestroom, South Africa
Novosibirsk Art Museum, Russia
Rosphoto, St. Pieterburg, Russia
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel
2011
Angkor Photo Festival, Cambodia
Fahey Klein, Los Angles, California
Fondazione Terre Medicee, Seravezza, Italy
Galerie Alex Daniels – Reflex Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Galleri Tom Christoffersen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Mannheim Ludwigshafen Heidelberg, Germany
Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal, Canada
Museum Het Domein, Sittard, Netherlands
Omsk Museum, Russia
Sammlung Prinzhorn, Outland and Shadow Chamber, Heidelberg, Germany
2010
Bozar, Brussels
Comune di Arco/Galleria Civica, Italy
Centro de Arte la Regenta, Las Palmas, Spain
Festival of Photography of Savignano, Italy
Gallery Photographer RU, Moscow, Russia
Galerie Sabine Knust, Munich, Germany
Galeria Max Estrella
Galeria Senda. Barcelona, Spain
Galerie Kamel Mennour, Paris, France
George Eastman House, Rochester, USA
Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, USA
Lismore Regional Gallery, Australia
Photonet Galerie, Wiesbaden, Germany
Rooke Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Sammlungsleiter Fotomuseum, Munich, Germany
Stenersen Museum, Oslo
Sydney Biennale, Australia
University of the O.F.S., South Africa
Ubuntu, Salzburg Austria
Ubuntu, Berlin, Germany
2009
Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand
Aura Gallery, Shanghai
City Museum of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Gagosian Gallery, New York, USA
Galerie Wolfsen, Denmark
Galerija Fotografija, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Galleria Massimo Minini, Brescia, Italy
Hamiltons Gallery, London, UK
Johnen Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, Australia
National Library of Australia, Canberra
Ontario College of Art & Design, Toronto, Ontario
Triennale, Milan, Italy
University of Johannesburg, South Africa
University of Pretoria, South Africa
University of the Orange Free State, South Africa
2008
AEREA / Christian Larsen, Stockholm, Sweden
Art Gallery of Western Australia
BWA Gallery, Katowice, Poland
Galeria vanGuardia, Bilbao, Spain
Hertzelia Artists Host Centre, Tel Aviv, Israel
Omaggio a Federico Vender at Palazzo dei Panni of Arco Trento
Su Palatu, Sardinia
2007
Aura Gallery, Hong Kong
Clint Roenisch Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
Galerie Photonet, Wiesbaden. Germany
Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, USA
Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg
Robert Klein Gallery, Boston
Trafo Gallery, Oslo, Norway
Yours Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
2006
Atlanta College of Arts, USA
Berlin Biennial, Berlin
Biblioteque Nationale, Paris
Christian Dam Gallery, Oslo, Norway
Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
Fahey Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Fotografisk Center, Copenhagen, Denmark
Galeria Senda, Barcelona, Spain
Galerie Johnen + Schöttle, Cologne
Galerie Kamel Mennour, Paris, France
Galerie Nicola von Senger, Zurich, Switzerland
Guido Costa Projects, Torino, Italy
Museum voor Fotografie, Antwerp
National Arts Festival, South Africa
Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloem., South Africa
Photographer’s Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Sasol Museum, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Stills Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Xavier Hufkens, Brussels, Belgium
2005
Aura Gallery, Shanghai
Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem
Durban Art Gallery, South Africa
Reflex Gallery, Amsterdam
Gagosian Gallery, New York
2004
Berkeley Art Museum, California
Le Chateau d’ eau a Toulouse
State Museum of Russia, St. Petersburg
2003
Galerie Mennour, Paris
Galleria Carla Sozzani, Italy
2002
Centro Cultural de Maia, O’Porto
Gallery of Photography, Dublin
Galleria D’arte Moderna, Bologna, Italy
Gagosian Gallery, New York
Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego
Musee Nicephore Niepce
Museo Nazionalle Italy, Brescia
Museet for Fotokunst, Odense
Nuku Gallery, Oulu
Sala Rekalde, Bilbao
2001
Association for Visual Arts, Cape Town
Encontros da imagem, Braga, Portugal
Fotoforum, Frankfurt
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
Hasselblad Center, Gutenberg
International Photo Festival Herten
Kicken Gallery, Berlin
Krefelder Kunstmuseen, Krefeld
Mateo Inurria, Cordoba
PhotoEspana, Madrid
Printemps de Septembre a Toulouse
Rupertinum, Salzburg
Shine Gallery, London
Wurttembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart
2000
Museum of Photography, Athens
Noordelicht, Amsterdam
Royal Theatre of Namur, Belgium
Sani Festival, Greece
Thessaloniki, Month of Photography
1999
Fait & Cause, Paris
Melkweg, Amsterdam
Month of Photography, Bratislava
Month of Photography, Cape Town
1998
Kunsthaus, Zürich
Kunstal Museum, Rotterdam
Lumo ’98
1996
Eindhoven Photographic Festival
Tarranto Gallery, New York City
1995
Arles Photographic Festival, Arles
Royal Festival Hall/Hayward, London
1994
Afrikaner Museum, Johannesburg
Michaelis Collection, Cape Town
1986
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria
Shell Gallery, Cape Town
1982
Market Theatre, Johannesburg
1981
Centre for Photography, Denver
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2016
AIPAD -The Association of International Photography Art Dealers, New York, United States – Etherton Gallery
Kendell Geers – Sindika Dokolo Foundation in Luanda
V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark – Roger Ballen with Asger Carlsen
2012
Art of Others, Outsiders, Self Taught and Navive Artists, Haifa Museum, Haifa Israel
The Art of Photography Show, San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, California, USA, September 2012
Confounding: Contemporary Photography, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, October 2012
Domestic Disorder in Contemporary Art, Musexpo, Gouggainville, France
Play, Turnhout, Antwerp, Belgium, Fall 2012
The Rise and Fall of Apartheid, International Centre of Photography, New York, USA, September 2012 – January 2013
Seeing Eye, Brundyn and Gonsalves, Cape Town, SA
Tender and Cruel, Tim Mellville Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand, May – June 2012
Traumwelten – In the Court of the King of Dreams, Kunsthalle HGN, Duderstadt, Germany
Twins, Center for Photography, Woodstock, New York, USA, June 2012
2011
High Speed Insanity, Blomquist, Oslo Norway
Museu de Arte Contemporanea de Niteroi, Rio de Janerio, Brazil
National Gallery of Modern Art, Bengaluru India
Real, Fotogaleria Wien, Vienna Austria
2010
7th Lane, Ellen-K Fine Art Photography, Norway
BIP 2010, Liege, Belgium
PEEKABOO! Helsinki Art Museum Tennis Palace, Finland
Skotia Gallery, First Biennial Photography Invitational, Santa Fe, USA
Zacheta National Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
2008
After Nature, New Museum, New York USA
Cautionary Tales, Albuquerque USA
New York Photo Festival, New York USA
Untitled (Vicarious), Gagosian Gallery, New York, USA
2005
Snaps, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg South Africa
2004
Making Faces, Musée de l’Elysée
2002
Citigroup Photography Prize, London
Centro Cultural de Maia O’Porto
National Portrait Gallery, London
Sala Rekalde, Bilbao 2002 “Dislocation”
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
2001
La Natura Della Natura Morta
Museet for Fotokunst, Odense C
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
2000
Haus der Kulturen der Welt
“Portraits of Africa”, Berlin
1999
Film & Television, Bradford
National Museum of Photography
National Portrait Gallery, London
New Natural History
1998
Comment Jouer Enfermement,
Maison Européene de la Photographie, Paris
National Portrait Gallery, London
1997
Contemporain, Paris
Double Vie, Double Vue,
AWARDS
Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, Edition 46, Artist of the Year, published on 14 November 2014
Best Music Video, I Fink U Freeky, Plus Camerimage International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography in Bydgoszcz, Poland
I Fink U Freeky. Award for best music video at the 20th Short Vila do Conde International Film Festival, Portugal, 2012
Finalist – Lucie Awards
Curator/Exhibition of the Year: Roger Ballen: Photographs 1982 – 2009. Curated by Dr. Anthony Bannon for the George Eastman House, Rochester, New York.
Art Directors Club Award Photography – 2006
The Selma Blair Witch Project – New York Times Magazine, October 31st 2005
Top 10 Exhibition, Matthew Higgs, Artforum-2004
Citigroup Prize, finalist, UK – 2002
Photographer of the Year, Rencontres d’ Arles – 2002
Top 10 Exhibition, Vince Aletti, Artforum – 2002
PhotoEspana, Best Photographic Book of the Year, Spain – 2001
Photo-eye, Best Documentary Title, Best Photography Books of 2001
Sani Festival, Best Solo Exhibition, Greece, 2000
Special mention: UNICEF Photo of the Year 2001
MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
Berkeley Art Museum, California
Biblioteque Nationale, Paris
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Alabama, USA
Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Durban Art Gallery, Durban, South Africa
Fotomuseum, Munchen, Germany
George Eastman House, Rochester, New York, USA
Haifa Museum of Art, Israel
Hasselblad, Goteborg, Sweden
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, USA
Johannesburg Art Museum, South Africa
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, USA
Louisiana Museum, Denmark
Maison Europeene de la Photographie, Paris
Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester. United Kingdom
MONA Museum, Hobart, Tasmania
Musée de la Photographie á Charleroi, Belguim
Musee de l’Elysee , Lausanne, Switzerland
Museet for Fotokunst, Denmark
Museo nazionale Della Fotographia, Brescia, Italy
Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, USA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
National Museum of Film and Photography, Bradford UK
Palm Springs Art Museum, California
Pushkin Museum, Moscow, Russia
Oliewenhuis, Bloemfontein, South Africa
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Spencer Art Museum, Kansas, USA
State Museum of Russia, Moscow, Russia
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Tate Britain, London, UK
Tel Aviv Museum, Israel
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Virginia, USA
BOOKS
Asylum of the Birds, Thames and Hudson, 2014.
Roger Ballen and Die Antwoord, I Fink U Freeky, published by Random House Prestel, July 2013
Roger Ballen, Photo Poche. Introduction by Dominique Eddé. France, 2012
Animal Abstraction. Introduction by Wim Pijbes . REFLEX Amsterdam, 2011
Roger Ballen Photographs 1969 – 2009. Introduction by Ulrich Pohlman.
Kerber Verlag, Bielefeld. 2010
Boarding House. Introduction by David Travis. Phaidon Press, London 2009
Shadow Chamber. Introduction by Robert A Sobieszek. Phaidon Press, London 2005
Introduction by Peter Weiermair. Phaidon Press, London 2001
Cette Afrique lá. Introduction by Lionel Murcott. Photo Pouche series, Editions Nathan Paris 1997.
Platteland, Images of a Rural South Africa. Introduction by Roger Ballen. William Waterman Publications 1994, Quartet Books, London 1994, St Martins Press, New York 1996.
Dorps, Small Towns of South Africa. Introduction by Roger Ballen. Clifton Publications, South Africa. 1986.
Introduction by Roger Ballen. Chelsea House Publishers, New York-London 1979.
CATALOGUES
Shadowland Photographs, Manchester Art Gallery, 2012
Roger Ballen Playpen, North-West University, Potchefstroom, SA
Roger Ballen at Modern Art Projects (MAP), Richmond, SA, 2011
Roger Ballen. Seravezza Fotografia 2011, Palazzo Mediceo, Seravezza, Italy. January – April 2011
High Speed Insanity: the exhibition. Blomqvist Fine Art, Oslo, Norway. June – August 2011
Roger Ballen. Museu de Arte Contemporanea de Niteroi. 19 March – 15 May 2011
Iziko South African National Gallery, 2010-2011
Shadow Chamber, Galeria Senda, Barcelona, 2010
(Re)construcoes: arte contemporanea da Africa do Sul. Museu de Arte Contemporanea de Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. March – May 2010
Abitare Mondi – Living Worlds. Savignano Immagini Festival, Italy, 2010
Massimo Minini, Sentences, 2010
PEEKABOO! Current South Africa. Helsinki Art Museum Tennis Palace, Finland, 2010
Roger Ballen Retrospective, Centro de Arte La Regenta, March – April 2010
Skotia Gallery, First Biennial Photography Invitational. Skotia Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. May – June 2010
Roger Ballen Storie. Museo Riva del Garda, Italy. June – August 2010
Roger Ballen Fotografien 1969 – 2010, Munchner Stadtmuseum, 2010
The Arresting Image. Pimsoll Gallery, University of Tasmania Centre for the Arts, 2009.