Roger Ballen

 The Asylum, represents a reflection on the theme of the still life, taking an approach that heightens codes of genre, bringing them to a point of rupture, of implosion, and entailing their redefinition. Along the way, a central role is played by the relationship established among the different constituent elements within the claustrophobic space of the image.

Roger Ballen (1950), was born in New York City and has lived and worked in Johannesburg, South Africa, for 30 years. His interest in photography dates to when his mother worked as a photo editor with Magnum Photos in New York, and teenager Ballen befriended the likes of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bruce Davidson, and Elliott Erwitt.

For many years Ballen worked as a geologist while documenting the small villages of rural South Africa and their isolated inhabitants. Over the past few years Ballen has had well over 100 exhibitions worldwide, including solo shows at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, New York’s Gagosian Gallery, and Toronto’s Clint Roenisch Gallery. Ballens work is  included in some 30 different museum collections.