Grounded in the chaotic, absurd psychological space of the Ballenesque, Spirits and Spaces reveals Roger Ballen’s creative vision in colour. Having previously worked solely in black and white, Ballen was inspired to explore this shift after receiving a Leica SL camera as a gift in 2016. Opening up to the potential of colour in his work, Ballen re-examined his images’ relationships to light, depth, texture and form. Spirits and Spaces eloquently captures the bizarre world of Roger Ballen, where animals and Art Brut-like drawings dominate, and humanity is reduced to obscure figures or fragmented body parts.
Created in conjunction with Ballen’s artistic director Marguerite Rossouw, the new colour images in Spirits and Spaces, were produced in a claustrophobic space constructed of worn, wallpapered wooden panels and with minimalistic lighting. Here, in this dense, oppressive environment, Ballen creates what might be seen by many as a world that is unexplainable in words: one in which absurdity, chaos, comedy and tragedy apparently exist side by side.
Gerhard Clausing (Photo Book Journal) states that, “Ballen challenges us to confront what most photographic traditions tend to avoid: the disordered, the irrational, the uncanny. Yet within these unsettling spaces also lies a surprising tenderness. Many of the compositions, while initially grotesque, unfold into meditations on fragility, vulnerability, and the persistence of creativity in the midst of chaos. In that sense, Spirits and Spaces is about the resilience of the human spirit when faced with fractured environments and fractured selves.”
Alongside this body of work is the publication of the first ever monograph of Ballen’s work in colour, Roger Ballen – Spirits and Spaces, which consists of 91 images chaptered in six parts: Childhood, Spectre, Animus, Shadow, Libido, and Chaos. The book was published by Thames and Hudson in September 2025 and is available to purchase on their website, here:
https://www.thamesandhudson.com/products/roger-ballen-spirits-and-spaces
Commenting on the book, Lily Kroeger (Musee Magazine) writes, “Ultimately, “Spirits and Spaces” confirms Ballen’s status as one of the most distinctive photographic voices of our time. By embracing color, he has not abandoned the Ballenesque but pushed it further, creating a theatre where spirits, animals and memories collide in spaces that are as unsettling as they are unforgettable.”.
Childhood
The raw, primitive style of these drawings invites viewers to engage with memories of their childhood. I often ask myself who these characters are, why they look this way, and whether they resemble the drawings I might have made as a child.
Spectre
These photographs are glimpses of a world invisible to the eye. They depict a world that exists in the depths or peripheries of consciousness, where they have been repressed, extruded or exiled.
Animus
Animals pervade my spaces; wherever you look, there are animals. They appear in places where they hardly belong. You cannot escape the animal. You cannot run away from the animal. The animal is deep inside. We come from the animal.
Shadow
The shadow that follows us from place to place always remains mysterious: untouchable, unfathomable, haunting, unsettling and never easily explained
Libido
There is no way to expunge the libido: it is built into the mechanism of consciousness itself. It is a constant in life, present from birth, that defines our existence on the planet, whether human or animal.
Chaos
The rooms I photograph represent the conflicted relationship between civilization and nature, where opposites attract and break apart in a world built not on logic, but on irrationality. Delirium, mirage, dreams and nightmares coexist and cannot be categorized as light or dark.
Roger Ballen: Spirits and Spaces
Essay by Roger Ballen; Introduction by Colin Rhodes
Thames & Hudson / September 30, 2025
Published by Thames & Hudson
Hardcover, 144 pages, 91 color photographs
11.4 x 12.1 inches
$60.00 hardcover | ISBN: 9780500028926
https://www.thamesandhudson.com/
