Roger Ballen's name may be familiar to you if you are a Die Antwoord fan: Ballen directed the "Wat Pomp" video for his fellow South Africans. We got interested in Ballen's work recently, and see that he has a new exhibition opening at the Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town opening this Saturday, November 27.

The opening to Ballen's website writes, "The art of Roger Ballen is impossible to forget. It goes deep." That may be an understatement. The photographs are like Diane Arbus on steroids. An obvious comparison, but it works.


He has won numerous awards, and his photographs are included in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.

More of his work, and the video for Die Antwoord, below.

















Roger Ballen and Boarding House
Iziko South African National Gallery
Cape Town, South Africa