A comprehensive retrospective exhibition showcasing the photographic works of South African photographer and visual artist Roger Ballen is set to open at the Benaki Museum. Titled "Roger Ballen: Shadows of the Mind," the exhibition is curated by Hercules Papaioannou and will run from November 6, 2025, to January 25, 2026, inviting visitors to explore several stages of Ballen's renowned career.
Over the past five decades, Roger Ballen's photography has undergone constant evolution. Stylistically, he has transformed his square-format photographs from austere black and white images to more elaborate staged scenes captured in muted monochromatic color. Conceptually, Ballen's early works presented a more documentary perspective, capturing the lives of those around him when he worked as a geologist in rural areas of South Africa. However, as his interaction with his subjects developed, his attention turned toward the inner world of the human psyche, leading him to what he describes as "documentary fiction."
Today, Ballen's work exists in a unique register he calls the "Ballenesque" – a theater of the mind composed of animated and inanimate characters, ghosts, animals, and absurdities. Born in New York in 1950, Ballen has lived and worked in South Africa for 40 years. He ranks among the most influential and important contemporary art photographers of the 21st century. In his practice, Ballen has increasingly explored the possibilities of integrating photography, drawing, and installation, constantly expanding his repertoire and visual language.
This integration has not only made a lasting contribution to the field of art but also serves as a powerful commentary on the human condition and its creative potential. The retrospective exhibition brings together different independent photographic series, including "Dorps" (1986), "Platteland" (1994), "Outland" (2001), "Shadow Chamber" (2004), "Boarding House" (2009), "Asylum of Birds" (2013), "Theatre of Apparitions" (2016), and "Spirits and Spaces" (2025).
Seeing these works together allows audiences to experience a concentrated journey through which they can observe the evolution of Ballen's imagery. The exhibition traces his progression from the documentation of early works to the creation of psychological theater that became the framework of his pieces in the early 2000s, finally arriving at a new development in the perception of the Ballenesque in color with the publication of his latest book "Spirits and Spaces."
The exhibition offers an opportunity to evaluate the extent of Ballen's ability to transform an image beyond the limits of narrative or medium, as well as his interest in highlighting what lies at the periphery of our consciousness. Ballen, who describes himself as an "outsider," puts it this way: "My goal has been to break down the boundaries between photography and other arts, taking photography out of its isolation as a form."
Although Ballen is widely recognized as a photographer, his practice destabilizes the singularity of photography by integrating photography, painting, drawing, installation, and video, transforming it into a medium that takes into account all formal visual elements. Composition, line, mark, and metaphor allow his photographs to extend well beyond simply capturing what is in front of the camera. This type of layered image creation provokes the gaze and encourages viewers to turn inward, toward the world of their own thoughts and feelings, rather than simply recognizing an iteration of reality – this is the power of the Ballenesque style.
Roger Ballen has published more than 25 books internationally, and his works are part of more than 50 of the world's most important international museum collections. Ballen is also the creator of several acclaimed and exhibited short films that continue his photographic series. He was one of the artists representing South Africa at the 2022 Venice Biennale. He is also founder and executive director of the Inside Out Centre for the Arts and the Roger Ballen Centre for Photography in Johannesburg, which aims to promote awareness of international and African issues through art and educational programs.
In September 2025, Thames and Hudson published "Spirits and Spaces," the first publication of Ballen's works in color. The exhibition curator, Hercules Papaioannou, is a Greek curator, art historian, and educator born in Thessaloniki in 1962. He studied physics at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and earned a master's degree in photography from New York University. He is currently a doctoral candidate in the Department of Journalism and Mass Media at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Since 1999, Papaioannou has been a curator at the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography, where he is also head of the collections department. He has organized numerous exhibitions, including "Anthropause" and "Neutral Zone," and has edited several photographic publications, with translations including works by Susan Sontag, Ian Jeffrey, and Vilém Flusser.
