Asylum of the Birds

Roger Ballen's Asylum of the Birds got a lot of attention last year. I haven't see it. (U.K. link.)

Roger Ballen, spread from the book Asylum of the Birds

Photography is a sprawling province; and sometimes I suspect myself of squeamishness...I seem to keep away from various extremes. There are many of them. Extreme perfectionism; extremes of kitschy schlockiness like Anne Geddes (popular with the public), extremes of status-mongering or of alleged hipness or coolness...all of it gives me the same feeling, not of discomfort, but just the sense that it ain't for me.

Extremes of darkness don't interest me much. I heard a lecture by Joel-Peter Witkin once and have been flatly averse to him and everything about him ever since; and I used to suspect that maybe the fact that I'm not similarly averse to Ralph Eugene Meatyard might be a measure of the failure of Meatyard's art. As if, if he's acceptable to me then he's not as dark as he wished to be. Possible? Could be.

Roger Ballen seems somehow to inhabit some sort of darkness that puts him at one of those extreme outlying points in he province.

I don't want to dismiss him. But he doesn't touch me.

Sometimes, though, I need to interrogate the source of my feelings about artists whose work I don't understand, or reactions in me that I don't understand.

Mike

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Stan B.: "Ballen has become somewhat of an aging hipster icon, and while his current dreamlike (nightmarish?) work is both disturbing and beautiful, I liked his previous 'straight' portraiture more which subtly hinted at the inner disturbances he directly illustrates now."

Mike replies: Can you point to some examples?

Stan B. replies to Mike: "Basically, I'm referring to Platteland, one of the strongest collections of portraits you'll find anywhere."

John Camp: "I agree with you both on Joel-Peter Witkin (I don't even bother to look at his books anymore) and Ralph Eugene Meatyard (who is one of my favorites.) Witkin seems phony and contrived, Meatyard seemed to have been working out of some powerful inner impulse. I'm not even sure there would be a Witkin if there hadn't been a Meatyard and maybe an Arbus.

"This guy Ballen interests me, though. I wish I knew what was going on in that film clip. I'd like to know how produced it was. I would like to know the same thing about his still photos—are they mostly found, or mostly produced? Is there a cluster of assistants behind the camera making graffiti art and rounding up models? How much is reworked in Photoshop?"

Mike replies: Good questions. The video does seem very slick, which is a strong contrast with its contents. It looks almost like the fake-immediate production you'd see in 1990s Nike commercials. That makes it simultaneously more visceral and less convincing.

Keith B: "The short motion picture on display is very well done; it's an effective commercial for the artist, except: I've seen this type of 'selling' before and always, always: The movie is better than the book. I'd hire the filmmakers."

Paul Amyes: "I find Ballen quite interesting. Much of his earlier work was more documentary in approach—Dorps and Platteland. The work became more interesting when he started to 'make' pictures rather than 'take' them and this is typical of his work found in Shadow Chamber, Boarding House, and now Asylum of The Birds. Each body becoming more and more detached from reality and increasing in its usage of assemblage and mixed media. It was Boarding House I saw as an exhibition in Perth, Western Australia, that really made me appreciate his work. Having said that it is not something I could live with (assuming that I could afford a print).

"As far as Joel-Peter Witkin the less said the better. I just don't relate to it in any positive way at all."

Comments

[gary isaacs]

provocative and uncomfortable . . . . i think you get points for posting his work.

[tex andrews]

"Sometimes, though, I need to interrogate the source of my feelings about artists whose work I don't understand, or reactions in me that I don't understand."

Ummm, yeah, there's that. 2 quick stories:
1. I was 4 or 5, maybe 6, and went to the Baltimore Museum of Art with my mom (just finished art school). Standing in front of a big Pollock, she burst out laughing. My young self looked and wondered:"What's so hysterically funny here?". Now, Pollock is a big influence---on my photography, btw, less than my painting.

2. Also on a trip with my mom, this time in my teens in the '70's, I was at the Basel museum of Art. I was standing in front of a vitrine full of very odd stuff, including a hand print/outline, and I wondered "what is this load of crap?" But somehow it really stuck with me. Fast forward 15 years, I'm in grad school, in a seminar studying a lot of Joseph Beuys---and now i'm really digging him---and here comes up a slide of that very same vitrine full of crap. Bowled me over. Not crap, btw....

[Rick Wilcox]

I would like to think that I am finally older and mature enough to not be in a rush to disapprove the visions of others. However, there is an abundance of beauty in this world to ponder, regardless of the cruelty of Mother Nature or the good but misguided intentions of mankind. Most of us, me included, will walk past homeless people with signs begging for things they lack, only to be afflicted with inaction. Put the lens cap on and have a Starbucks. There just isn't enough money in my wallet to cure or fix the problem. Bottom line: I don't want or need to take pictures or view the photos by others of the darkness around me. We seem to be capable of paving over the ugliness and populating the scene with potted plants, trees and buildings.

[Stan B.]

Ballen has also delved into the realm of music videos, as in his collaboration with Die Antwood:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uee_mcxvrw

[steve makin]

I attended a lecture by Roger Ballen some years ago with my son who was about to start a photography course at college, after spending an hour looking at the images and then listening to the lecture my boy asked me if this man was an actor

I wasnt able to answer his question

and his hipness comes from his association with the group Die Antwoord

and like you Mike I find JPW boring and contrived, and REM fascinating, funny old world eh ?

[Jamie Pillers]

Watching Ballen work brought up the same feelings I have when I watch videos of Bruce Gilden working on the streets of NY. I feel uneasy watching what looks like exploitation of the subjects. But then afterward, when looking at the resulting images, I find myself being mesmerized. It seems like ruthlessness is sometimes necessary to get at uncomfortable truths about our culture. Hmmm...?

Like John C. said above, I too am interested in how much production was involved in Ballen's video. Is it a spontaneous view of an incredibly dark spot on the planet, a play inhabited by actors, or something in-between?

[Dave]

This video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfmiYG0FZ5k) has softened my attitude towards Ballen and his work. So thanks for helping me find it.

[Alan Hill]

I see no respect for the subjects in these pictures, human or avian. If I can't see that a photographer is really interested in what he is photographing, I can't be bothered with his images. On the other hand, I can sense some sort of feeling between Witkin and his subjects, albeit of a very strange and disturbing kind, so I can't dismiss his work in the same way.
We have to respect the fact that we are all wired in rather different ways.

[Rod Thompson]

This is possibly why the Art movement will always survive, because even if its not always worth looking at, its going to be talked about.

[Sean]

My friend who is all about good vibes and spriituality was quite shaken up by an exhibition of Outland. I took him to see it, and can can clearly remember witnessing his mood change as he was confronted with Ballen’s pictures. He looked like he’d been emotionally hit over the head by the end. He had seen nothing like it before, I’m sure he’s seen nothing like it since, but at least he knows that photography can shake you up a little, even photography you don’t like

[D. Hufford.]

I recall his Platteland photos, but hadn't paid much attention to him since then. You post got me researching his work again, and I find it quite interesting so I will have to pick up a few of his still-in-print books. Dark, a bit creepy even, but that makes them attractive to me.

[Paul]

I think you and I and everyone should confront and question our reasons for disliking certain bodies of work. What is it that disturbs us? I'm convinced there's something we can all learn about our own psyche.

[jason gold]

When we 1st saw Roger's photographs, many of us felt he abused his position, to get those images.Later I read about his method of working and was impressed.
Yes the images are nightmarish.
That is Africa. That is very much South Africa.
I simply could not live there.
I had photographed the change to Full Democracy.
Look at his images, make a copy and leave it on the fridge door for a time.
I really hate the images, but they are very true!