Roger Ballen

Roger Ballen (1950) is a New York–born photographer and visual artist whose haunting black‑and‑white images delve into the human psyche, the surreal, and the strange. Spending much of his career in South Africa, Ballen first gained acclaim with Dorps (1986) and Platteland (1994), intimate documentary portraits of marginalized rural communities that challenged social norms.

Over time his work evolved into psychologically charged tableaux, blending photography, performance, and installation. In series like Outland (2001) and Asylum of the Birds (2014), he constructs staged environments populated by eccentric characters, animals, found objects, and graffiti‑style drawings—creating surreal worlds that force viewers to confront the unconscious forces shaping identity.

Ballen’s photographs are held in the permanent collections of MoMA (New York), Centre Pompidou (Paris), the V&A (London), LACMA, the Stedelijk (Amsterdam), the National Gallery of Australia, the Getty (Los Angeles), and the Museum of Fine Arts (Houston). His ongoing exploration of order and chaos, reality and imagination, has secured his place as one of photography’s most influential contemporary voices.