The first monograph to present Roger Ballen´s venture into colour.
For 50 years, the internationally acclaimed photographer Roger Ballen has been inviting viewers to explore the human condition and that place where the conscious and subconscious intersect. Through his exhibitions, installations, and over 20 books. Roger Ballen:Spirits and Spaces (Thames & Hudson, September 30, 2025) is the first monograph to present Roger Ballen’s venture into color photography. A visual revelation that remains grounded in the haunting, absurd psychological space of the Ballenesque. In his essay for the book, Ballen reflects on how color contributes to his considerations of the physical and metaphysical. “As I had delved deeper into color photography, I had begun to appreciate how it adds a distinct ethereality and complexity to my work, enriching the psychological spaces within my images.”
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. With nearly 100 photographs, the much-anticipated new monograph 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.
Roger Ballen: Spirits and Spaces divides into six sections. Each including a brief preface written by Ballen framing the particular grouping. The titles: Childhood, Spectre, Animus, Shadow, Libido, Chaos reference Jungian archetypes of the subconscious. And invite viewers to further deepen their engagement with the layers present within each image. Symbolism and metaphor combine with shape and form throughout his images. To provide reference points that lure the viewer into their own subconscious and memory bank.
Ballen, working with his artistic director Marguerite Rossouw, produced the new colour images in Spirits and Spaceswithin a claustrophobic space.. Constructed of worn. Wallpapered wooden panels and with minimalistic lighting. In this dense, oppressive environment, Ballen actively shapes a world that many might find impossible to explain in words. One in which absurdity, chaos, comedy and tragedy apparently exist side by side.
