Roger Ballen: "ROGER THE RAT"

"I cannot remember when I put this rat mask on for the first time... I am unsure whether I am a rat or human. Perhops my mother was a rat and my fother a human. I think I am a bit of each..." Roger Ballen

Throughout his career, Roger Ballen has pursued a singular artistic goal: to give expression to the human psyche-to explore visually, the hidden forces that shape who we are. ln 60 black and white photographs a persona, Roger the Rat is created by Ballen, that is fundamentally archetypal even mythological,a half human,half animal character that has the capability to profoundly lodge itself in the mind of those viewing these images.

Roger Ballen unveils a selection of uncanny photographs so completely different from his previous work, yet still with the unmistakable Ballenesque aesthetic. ln true style to Roger Ballen, the photographs reveal a range of emotions from the comic to the tragic at the sametime making a profound statement about the human condition.

Produced in Johannesburg South Africa over a five-year period from 2015 to 2020, Ballen creates and documents a quasi-person who lives an isolated life outside the mainstream of society surrounding hirnself with rats and mannequins that he collects from various locations. Friendless and deranged, "Roger the Rat" constructs a fantasy world with many of the lifeless figures communicating with them as if they were alive.

Roger Ballen (born 1950 in New York City) and living in South Africa since 1982 is one of the most important and original art photographers working today.