‘Essential reading’ – Royal Photographic Society Journal
‘A wonderful, career-long survey … wincingly moving’ – The Independent
Now available in paperback, Ballenesque takes readers on a visual, chronological journey through Roger Ballen’s entire oeuvre, including both iconic images and previously unpublished photographs.
A substantial retrospective on one of the world’s most remarkable and critically acclaimed art photographers.
Separated into four parts, Ballenesque takes readers on a visual, chronological journey through Roger Ballen’s entire oeuvre, including both iconic images and previously unpublished photographs. Part I explores his formative artistic influences and his later rediscovery of boyhood through photography, culminating in his first published monograph, Boyhood, in 1979.
Part II then charts the period between 1980 and 2000, during which time his deeper search for the elemental self-found its way into the ‘Dorps’, or small towns, of South Africa and concluding with the release of his seminal monograph Outland.
Part III covers the years 2000-2013, when Ballen achieved global recognition with Shadow Chamber and Boarding House and his work began to veer away from portraiture altogether.
Finally, in Part IV, Ballen reflects upon his career in its entirety. Several image swaps and text updates, documenting the following recent exhibitions and other projects: a show at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town (2017); The House of the Ballenesque at Les Rencontres d’Arles (2017); The World According to Roger Ballen at the Musee de la Halle Saint Pierre in Paris (2019), the most comprehensive retrospective of Roger’s work to date; and the creation of sets for a production of the opera Hansel und Gretel at the Artscape Theatre Centre in Cape Town (2021).
Part V An entirely new chapter, with new text and images, covering the Roger the Rat series (2015–2020); some of Roger’s new colour photography (2017–ongoing); a series of pastel drawings made during lockdown (March–June 2020); and the opening in November 2020 of the Inside Out Centre for the Arts in Johannesburg, a permanent exhibition and teaching venue owned and operated by the Roger Ballen Foundation.
With over 300 photographs and an introduction by eminent academic Robert J. C. Young, this book provides both an entirely new way of seeing Ballen’s work for those who already follow his career and a comprehensive introduction for those encountering his photographs for the first.
