Roger Ballen – Shadow Chamber

© Roger Ballen - Outland

I discovered Roger Ballen through a friend during the Christmas holidays. I had never heard of him before, but soon realized he had been on the international scene for a while now.

Working as a mining entrepreneur across South Africa for almost 30 years, Ballen has been in contact with rural folk living on the fringe of society through his travels across the land. His first photographic approaches were done in a classic black and white documentary style, but soon his work turned into something more complex and ambiguous. In 2001, he published Outland, a series of images that brought his work away from observation toward a more collaborative method, one that involved his subject in the creation of theatrical tableaux.

The book I received in the mail today is titled the Shadow Chamber and was published in 2005, by Phaidon. The images are haunting. I don’t recall the last time I was struck in such a complex way by a piece of art. The images scare me, they intrigue me, they inspire me. They are sculptural, painterly and theatrical; they are photographs of people in complex psychological state of being. The rooms that are photographed are dirty. There is a whole mythology being played by the characters, the animals and the objects. Really, a work difficult to look at, but at the same time difficult not to be seduce by…

There’s is also an interview with Ballen on Lens Culture that is quite interesting and worth a listen.

© Roger Ballen - Shadow Chamber

© Roger Ballen - Shadow Chamber

© Roger Ballen - Shadow Chamber

— by Louis Perreault on January 08, 2010. Filed under Black & White

About Louis

Contributor — Louis Perreault lives and works in Montréal. He holds a BFA, with a major in photography, from Concordia University. His work deals mainly, but not exclusively, with notions of place, space and landscape. Check out Louis’ work at his website and his blog.