ROGER BALLEN
Rooke Gallery represents Ballen's exclusive vintage works stretching back to 1968 and his contemporary bodies of work from Dorps (1986), Platteland (1994), Outland (2001), Shadow Chamber (2005) and Boarding House (2009).
"Roly Poly"
10'' x8''
1971
Silver bromide fibre print
Edition of 10
Known for documenting the small villages of rural South Africa, Ballen's photography moved on in the late 1980's and early 1990's to their inhabitants. His choice of subjects continuously attracts social scrutiny, and debate often rages regarding the true circumstances underlying the unnervingly real scenarios the photographs often depict. Is this fact or fiction?
"Woman, man and dog"
1995
40cm x 40cm
Silver bromide fibre print
Edition of 35
And all the while the average viewer misses the point entirely. From his outset in the late 1960’s, Roger Ballen’s photographs have captured moments that cannot be repeated. They find uncanny order in chaos and they revel in the pure pleasure of form. Whilst they deliver testament to the camera’s ability to freeze a fleeting moment in time, they more importantly point out the rare ability of a photographer to elevate the ordinary into extraordinary.
It is with this as a foundation that Ballen then expands and innovates into areas that blur the disparate worlds of documentation and art.
"Sliced"
2007
50cm x 50cm
Silver bromide fibre print
Widely published and collected across the globe, Roger Ballen is undoubtedly one of the world's leading contemporary photographers.
Click here to view Roger Ballen's unseen and vintage works or here to enquire about pricing and availability of his contemporary bodies of work from Dorps (1986), Platteland (1994), Outland (2001), Shadow Chamber (2005) and Boarding House (2009).