Playpen at Michaelis Galleries draws from a spectrum of Roger Ballen’s previous series of atmospheric photographs, Boyhood, Platteland, Outland, Shadow Chamber, and Boarding House, as well as from a new body of work, Asylum. Comprising both recognizable and rarely seen photographs, Playpen seeks to thematically explore Ballen’s images of children and their abandoned toys, imaginative games, drawings and surrounding space.
Roger Ballen has been photographing children since the 1970’s, appreciating children’s spontaneity, their ability to improvise and their treatment of space as a playground. Children’s play invents new and different spaces, which also mirror the world around them. Similarly, the composition of Ballen’s surreal images usher the viewer into an imaginary world in which the distinction between what is real and what merely appears to be, is blurred.
Playpen, as the title of the exhibition, implies a small portable enclosure in which a small child can play safely. Yet, the photographs have an unnerving quality, often highlighting disintegration, dilapidation and the passage of time. Ballen uses photography to explore the so-called dark side of the human psyche, creating immersive and gripping scenes. There is a mystery to the photographs, leading them to linger in the mind of the viewer. As Ballen states, “the best pictures are the ones you don’t have words for, the ones that leave you in a state of silence”.
Where: Michaelis Galleries, Hiddingh Campus, 31 Orange Street, Gardens, Cape Town
When: Exhibition ends 9 October
Info: Visit Michaelis Galleries
