International photographer Roger Ballen produces interior worlds that are alluring, fascinating and disturbing. Born in New York in 1950, Ballen has lived in South Africa since the 1970s. His work as a geologist led him to capture through the camera lens the hidden world of small South African towns. Since then he has made work in ‘boarding houses’ and other marginal places that is by turns alluring, provocative and controversial.
Curated by Sydney College of the Arts’ Colin Rhodes, and arranged thematically around five suggestive ‘theatres’, Ballen’s first major Sydney exhibition, Roger Ballen’s Theatre of the Mind, is a provocative collection of 75 black & white images from the last two decades, and features the artist’s award-winning music video for rap-rave group Die Antwood.
The exhibition includes a new installation, ‘Theatre of Darkness’, created in collaboration with SCA students and alumni in the underground cells of the former Rozelle psychiatric hospital in Callan Park. This is a guided tour (maximum of 20 people per tour). Bookings essential.
In addition to the exhibition, a free Art Talk with the artist will be held on – Wednesday 9 March 2016, 1-2pm SCA Auditorium Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney
Roger Ballen is considered one of the most important contemporary photographers of the 21st century. Roger Ballen will present an overview of the development of his unique aesthetic over the last 50 years, ahead of his first major Sydney exhibition.
The exhibition will be running from 16th March to 30th April, so get in quick and experience this for yourself!
For more out the Roger Ballen Art Talk, Exhibition and to register for these public events visit Sydney College of the Arts
Above image: Roger Ballen, Caged (Asylum of the Birds), 2011, archival inkjet print on paper. Courtesy the artist and Stills Gallery.