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Roger Ballen: Shadow Chamber

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Roger Ballen: "Shadow Chamber"

Roger Ballen's Shadow Chamber, represents psychological studies of mans conscious and unconscious interactions with existence. Through construction of ambiguous spaces and still-life, Ballen composes allegories of the human experience.
Juxtaposing human amongst animals, and found objects, Ballen forces a dialogue between their essences. Often isolated within a fabricated space, the figures and objects appear dysfunctional, documenting a lack of consciousness and purpose.

The photographs have qualities of painting, performance, and sculpture, assisting in the surreal aesthetic and content of the work. Similar to painter Francis Bacon, Ballen confines the arrangements of his figures within small spaces. The walls, decomposing, covered in stains and scribbles, echo human emotional confusion. It is uncertain as to what is taking place within the chambers or their exact location, further causing a sense of disorientation.

"Inmate", 2003, is composed of a man on his back, smoking a cigarette, eyes wide, gazing upwards. A vine coils down a wall behind him as a mouse scurries past. A cord, resembling a telephone extension hangs from a nail above the mans head. As if everything outside of the frame, the chamber, or the natural world is erased, Ballen creates a world of his own within each image. Unifying human and animal within a limited space, the man, his cigarette, and the telephone cord are juxtaposed to the mouse and vine, underlining a comparison between the natural and manmade. While strategically building environments that encourage questions of the positioning of the subjects within each room, Ballen's objects and spaces don't always make sense, forever asking the question of what it means to be.