The comedic beauty
in Ballen’s images arise
out of his placement of
social outsiders at their
most absurd.Wires became a
fascination for Ballen.
In paintings the use of
lines serve as a way to
connect different parts of
the image. Roger believes
that the use of wires in
photographic compostion
has to serve a great
metaphorical purpose for
the audience.99april 2015 Better pBetter photographyhotography
great mastersOutland
The book is a powerful
portrayal of whites
on the fringes of
South African society.
It is the culmination
of over 20 years of
work for geologist
turned artist-
photographer Roger
Ballen. The soon to
be launched second
edition of the book
will have 45 new
images, that were
previously unseen.T
hree years ago, I was thrown
headfirst into the world of
Roger Ballen’s photography.
My introduction to his work was a
music video called I Fink You Freeky,
by a South African rap trio, Die Antwoord.
Visceral, haunting, surreal... even if the three
images on this page constitute all you you
have seen of Roger’s work, you already know
that these words don’t do them any justice.
Roger Ballen’s photographs have an
incredible ability to look set up and utterly
spontaneous at the same time. They demand
your attention from the first glance and are
relentless in their weirdness.Let Your Mind Wander
The longer you spend looking at these
photographs the more interesting every tiny
detail becomes... the more interpretations
your mind creates. For Roger, “The best
photographs don’t comprise one or two or
three or four or five elements. They integrate
thousands of elements at one time. My goalultimately is to create a very strong intense
formal image.”
Listening to Roger talk about his images
was an oddly fun experience. When he
spoke of the series, he was no longer a
photographer talking about his creation.
Instead, he often sounded like a professor
well-versed in Ballen-esque photography.
“If I had to describe my images I would sayHis images are able
to combine the oddity
of the human body with
surrounding objects to
give the impression of
great dysfunction.All photographs by Roger Ballen, Image Courtesy: Outland, Phaidon Press Inc