World-renowned photographer Roger Ballen visited the Chazen Museum of Art last Thursday to speak to followers and art enthusiasts alike on his current exhibit.
Ballen’s style has evolved over his decades in the field. Ballen once focused more on capturing still-life pictures to document lives and to serve as a social critique. Over the years, however, Ballen has placed a greater emphasis on his photography to symbolize metaphors on the human mind and abstractism.
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Ballen was a pioneer of his field, creating his works before art photography was common.
“No photographer would call himself an artist,” Ballen said in reference to the period when he first began. “I went out there and took pictures.”
Once a geologist, Ballen always had a distinct curiosity for the earth and its inhabitants, which is how he came to spend most of his years working and living in South Africa. The nation’s people subsequently became the focal point of much of his artwork. They represent something about the human condition, Ballen said.
Made famous for his black and white style, which can be seen in the music video for Die Antwoord’s “Fink U Freeky” he directed. Ballen delves into human nature through the dark, surreal images. Ballen favors contrast — such as combining humor and fear — to both appeal to and irk viewers simultaneously.
Ballen commonly uses a combination of many different forms, images and shadows to invoke emotion and authenticity in his photographs. Ballen prefers his pictures to each tell a complex story, rather than just be simply pleasant to look at.
“[Photography is] taking many different pieces to create a reality,” Ballen said. “A sunset over a mountain, oh pretty. But we all know that … Pictures don’t just become famous because they look strange. They get somewhere in people’s heads and stay there … These [pictures] are a mirror to humanity.”
The absurd, sometimes shocking images by Ballen are more than just outlandish pictures. The pictures represent something much greater — a part of the mind humans tend to ignore or even actively avoid that every person can relate to deep in his or her psyche, according to Ballen.
Through photography and film, Ballen completely immerses himself in his work, and brings viewers with him.
“I create a reality that can only be known as ‘Roger Ballen’s reality,’” Ballen said. “The purpose of the pictures is to transform your mind. That’s what art is all about,”
For those who have yet to visit Ballen’s Chazem Museum of Art exhibit to experience this reality, or wish to view it again, it remains on display until Nov. 1.
