“When I create photographs, I often travel deep into my own interior, a place where dreams and many of my images originate.”

Considered one of the most original image makers of the twenty-first century, American-born photographer Roger Ballen has lived and worked in South Africa for four decades. His newest work, Asylum of the Birds, is set within the confines of a makeshift house on the outskirts of Johannesburg, a place inhabited by individuals at the absolute margins of society. In this anarchic place, the human and animal inhabitants collaborate as Ballen’s cast in an ongoing series of quasi-directed performances. As we enter Ballen’s layered netherworld the images simultaneously repel and compel our gaze and transport us to an even darker dreamworld, that of the fears within our own imagination.

The omnipresent birds, both alive and dead, signal a foreboding reminiscent of Hitchcock, while simultaneously suggesting hope and freedom. While "asylum" promises insanity, it also suggests refuge and persists in our mind as a metaphor for redemption. Says Ballen of his work, “My purpose in taking photographs over the past forty years has ultimately been about defining myself. It has been fundamentally a psychological and existential journey.”

The exhibition also presents Ballen's latest film, produced in collaboration with Sydney College of the Arts students and alumni: "Theatre of the Mind," a psychological thriller set in a zone between sanity and insanity, dream and reality. Filmed in underground tunnels built in 19th century Australia to house the mentally insane, the work encapsulates Ballen's hauntingly intense style.

WORKS
40 framed photographs
1 video (2:09 m loop)

DIMENSIONS
(29) 23 x 22 in (58.4 x 55.9 cm)
(11) 29 x 28 in (73.7 x 71.1 cm)

SPACE REQUIREMENTS
Approx. 145 linear feet (44.2 linear meters)

INQUIRIES
exhibitions@curatorial.org | 626.577.0044

EXHIBITOR RESOURCES
Prospectus (See Below)

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING
Curator available for lectures.

FEE
$8,500 for an eight-week period

EXHIBITION SCHEDULE
Daum Museum of Contemporary Art | Sedalia, MO
(January 27 – May 28, 2017)

Thompson Art Gallery | San Jose State University | San Jose, CA
(April 12 – May 20, 2016)

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Roger Ballen (b.1950) is one of the most influential and important photographic artists of the 21st century. His strange and extreme works confront the viewer and challenge them to come with him on a journey into their own minds as he explores the deeper recesses of his own. In his artistic practice Ballen has increasingly been won over by the possibilities of integrating photography and drawing. He has expanded his repertoire and extended his visual language. By integrating drawing into his photographic and video works, the artist has not only made a lasting contribution to the field of art, but equally has made a powerful commentary about the human condition and its creative potential.

Video Gallery