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 depths of the unconscious and bring to the light hidden truths of our existence. With an acute look, he has shaped a corpus of works that goes beyond the simple act of capturing images, transforming them into visions imbued with emotional depth. Ballen uses a wide range of artistic techniques, including drawing, painting, collage and sculpture, to shape a new aesthetic that blends firmly with photography. His works recall the work of iconic photographers such as Walker Evans and Eugene Meatyard, not only for formal elements such as texture, light and interaction with the subject, but also for the deep willingness to document and reveal lives marginalized during periods of social change.
Individuals in Ballen’s photographs evoke figures in the theater of the absurd of Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter. Like Beckett’s characters in Waiting for Godot, these people cannot influence or get rid of it, thus reflecting the absurdity of the human condition through actions that are difficult to understand, often bizarre. Over the years, Ballen has embraced a more direct form of collaboration with his subjects, transforming his photographs into real tableaux vivants, where reality and fiction merge. Series like Outland see the artist move away from traditional documentary photography to embrace a more theatrical and participatory vision.
Since 2003, Ballen has experimented with increasingly abstract images. The series such as Shadow Chamber and Boarding House testify to his continued search for new modes of expression and his interest in the complexity of the human condition.
The Theatre of Apparitions at the Venice Biennale 2022
The Theatre of Apparitions, one of her most recent works, draws inspiration from drawings and signs found in an abandoned female prison, turning darkened glass into a canvas to explore the depths of the human mind. Through his carefully constructed photographs, Ballen opens the door to a realm of endless possibilities, inviting viewers to explore the mystery and wonder that lurk in his vision of the world.
We met Roger Ballen at The Uncanny Lens at Castel Ivano (Trento), and with him we got straight into the recurring themes that made his work so iconic and recognizable. Whether it’s exploring the dark recesses of the human mind or celebrating the ineffable beauty of life, Ballen continues to demonstrate the transformative power of photography and its ability to unearth hidden truths that lie beneath the surface of our world and the subconscious.
The Theatre of Apparitions.
Sara Benaglia and Mauro Zanchi: How is your photograph born? Before realizing it, how does your consciousness relate to all the collective memory that has taken shape over time and is in suspension around us?
Roger Ballen: A photograph has its roots in the abyss of my mind before it was even materialized. Its essence takes shape before I am fully aware of it. Being interconnected with the multiple consciousnesses that have populated time, it is difficult to establish precisely the exact moment when a photograph begins. In practice, it usually begins with the presence of a subject or object, while I do the other way between them. They are, in essence, an organizer: I transform the visual chaos into visual coherence. I’ve ever planned my photographs. Even relying solely on dreams and imagination does not guarantee the success of the image. Each of my photographs comes from thousands of micro-decisions, similar to the infinite brushstrokes on a canvas. The options are endless, and this is the challenge that makes photography so complex: there is no limit to the possibilities.
When and how do you feel that an image has reached a visual coherence?
In a given moment, harmony, vitality, intensity and poetry arise, and it is my duty to identify that point. To achieve it, I have to tap into various parts of my mind. Commonly, we categorize the mind consciously and unconsciously, but this is a simplification. In fact, there is an internal force – an agency that operates beyond the control of consciousness, operating on multiple levels – that makes the ultimate decision. There is a time when this decision-maker, to give him a name, goes from a red light to a yellow light. Then I approach my camera, take it in my hand and start preparing it. But I don’t press the shutter until I get a green light and I hear “Get, go!”. But what does he say to this decision-maker to say “way”? I’m not sure I have an answer to that question.
Could you delve into the issues related to the interaction between your conscious and unconscious mind, between you and the subject who enters your work? How does photography interact with the psyche of the subjects portrayed?
My photographs never follow a pre-established plan. Rather, my intent is to arrive in a place with a serene and silent mind. Images take shape from the interaction between my conscious and unconscious mind, between me and the subject. It is similar to navigating a traffic maze to reach an undefined destination without a map: it is only hoped that efforts will be worth it. The best images are manifested when the subject, as an experienced actor, forgets the presence of the stage and is completely identified with his role. Most people I’ve worked with in South Africa probably don’t have a real conception of what I’m trying to achieve or how the camera could transform them. Therefore, the problem of their fear does not arise. However, I am convinced that if I were to meet a subject with a more sophisticated mask, I would still be able to capture that state of mind for which I am known.
Since 1995 and the Outland project, most of your images have been made in spaces that could be seen as claustrophobic sets, built with worn-out wooden panels and old upholstery, illuminated in a minimal way. What kind of world has taken shape in these scenarios?
The simple, whitewashed wallpapers that had dominated photographs of my previous series underwent a transformation during the Outland and Shadow Chamber projects. The walls covered with scribbles, stains, drawings and clippings, as well as broken frames, masks and threads of all kinds, have begun to be an essential part of the imaginary. What was originally a background becomes more and more the subject of photographs; the visual elements on the walls gradually become an aesthetic in its own right. Encased in sterile and dilapidated rooms, my aesthetics developed layer by layer, photography after photography. The threads began to take on sculptural qualities, graffiti became painting and the residues and signs became metaphors, adding a new level of complexity to the work. Through this interaction, I was able to broaden my vision of the world inside and outside of me. In this impoverished and claustrophobic space I found my inspiration.
Bitten, 2004 from The series Shadow Chamber.
What analogies and correlations trigger in your theatrical settings, often surreal or disowning?
Looking both inside and outside the opera itself, I realize that much of the ballet theatre was built in what might be considered domestic interiors. There is something suggestive of life lived in its fullness, with all its complexity, in the heavy presence of the unmade bed, the worn-out sofa, the broken window, the shaky chair, the lopsided painting, the wounded plastic doll. All these elements should indicate a life lived in normality, yet they reveal inherently disturbing aspects of what it means to be human. In my images, confusion is a crucial metaphor of the human condition.
What role do evocative silence and enigmatic presence play in your works?
My photographs must be enigmatic. When one reflects on the nature of death, one begins to understand what the riddle is. The goal is to create images that have the same quality. If you produce images that have an enigma, then maybe they are making a profound statement.
At Castel Ivano, in Valsugana, there is a photographic exhibition in which your works are compared with those of Joel-Peter Witkin. How did this project come about? From a common intention between you and Witkin?
I met Joel and his son Kersen in New York at a dinner party by a mutual friend. Some time later I proposed to Kersen, at Paris Photo, to work together. We both knew each other’s work and had an interesting evening. During my exhibition at the Tinguely Museum in Basel in 2023 I met Fulvio de Pellegrin, whom I have known since 2001. We had a coffee together and it turned out that he met Joel Peter Witkin and was excited to collaborate with his friend Paolo Dolzan at a Ballen/Witkin exhibition.
Looking at your work compared to Witkin’s, an unexpected amount of common details emerges but, even more so, a photographic attitude in which the lens records something that is not the mere real. What does photographic recording represent for you?
I do not use Photoshop or manipulate my photographs in the darkroom. My photographs capture the physical space that passes as light through the camera lens. Therefore, I believe that most good photographs should have a narrative, a beginning and an end, a sense of completion. An image has a complete logic, it implicitly has a sense. It does not mean that there can be no ambiguity, but logic passes through every part of what is there.
Since 2003, your work has extended the photographic medium to something else, in a complex relationship with subjects placed against the walls of houses saturated with lines, signs and drawings. Sometimes you asked the people themselves, those framed by your goal, to make drawings on the wall, graphic elements in art brut style. What is the relationship between photography and drawing in your work?
The idea of incorporating drawings into my photographs originated from the experience of photographing subjects against the walls of houses, saturated with their lines, signs and drawings – essentially, from street photography, from lived reality. Over time, I began to interact with my subjects and sometimes encouraged them to create drawings directly on the wall. Then I made some photographs integrating what they produced with other aspects inside the camera frame. The drawings may not have been on canvas, but they were still works of art of a certain type: a direct link with the people who had made them. My camera doesn’t draw. My camera is basically a tool that captures light from what is already present. I have to figure out how to take the lines – the drawings, the doodles, the scratches and the clippings – and create something coherent. Drawings are usually against the background of my work, so the most challenging part of my work, in some ways, is to integrate the shape and content of the drawings with the other aspects of the photographs, such as animals, objects and people.
Your work and Witkin’s, presented side by side, produce an unusual physical sensation in a photographic exhibition, something very similar to a punch in the stomach. Is it your vision only, or even that of the subjects and corpses portrayed, that enter into the visual interpretation?
I have often done the analogy between an artist like Picasso and another artist who draws the same flower. It is impossible to conceive that they draw the subject in a similar way. Photography is the same thing, there are hundreds and hundreds of decisions that need to be made before taking the picture. In places where I work there is always a lot of activity, there is always movement. Objects and drawings are assembled and disassembled, people enter and exit, birds fly and animals crawl on the floor. It is therefore my responsibility, and no one else, to recognize the exact moment when to take the photo. It is my task to perceive the flow as it moves from one place to another.
Describe your works as “existential psychodramas,” which touch the subconscious mind and evoke the soft underbelly of the human condition. Where did this search of yours take you?
I can’t help but think that because there are so many parts of the puzzle, life will never be understood in any way. Confusion is a crucial metaphor for the human condition. We try to find a purpose in the confusion, but basically it’s just confusion.
You have just opened the Inside Out Centre for the Arts in Johannesburg. How did you make the decision to open a museum? Would you talk about this space briefly?
For many years I wanted to open a museum, but I was hindered by the fact that I could not find a property to be built. In 2017, for pure luck, I found the ideal place. After many consultations, I decided on a project and finally moved in August 2020. The first exhibition was inaugurated in March 2023 and was titled End of the GameFine del gioco, centered on the destruction of African wildlife around the year 1900. The exhibition is a combination of documentation and my artwork. The goal of the Inside Out Centre for the Arts is to exhibit works of art related to Africa that are psychological and relevant to the South African community.
Photographers for over five decades and the images we saw at Castel Ivano were all made with an analog camera. How do you see contemporary digital photographic evolution?
For over fifty years I have only shot analog films in black and white. Over the past 7 years, almost all of my photographs have been taken in color with a digital camera. Ultimately, I don’t care about the technology used to capture an image, but create a deeper and more lasting meaning in photography.
In addition to everything you have revealed to us, does your work also have political connotations?
Ultimately, my photographs are about the politics of the mind. The goal of my images was to help viewers make peace with their inner self. In other words, I hope that my photographs can break the layers of mental repression and allow the different sides of people’s minds to communicate with each other. I firmly believe that unless a substantial part of humanity succeeds in freeing itself from mental repression, the condition of the species will not substantially improve.
Roger Ballen – Joel-Peter Witkin
THE UNCANNY LENS / The Disturbing Lenses
Curated by Fortunato D’Amico
Castel Ivano (TN)
from 16 March to 13 April 2024
Catalogue Fallone Editore, curated by Fulvio de Pellegrin and Paolo Dolzan
Comments are closed.