20 Brussels events in 2020: #6. Roger Ballen

Centrale for Contemporary Arts, the City of Brussels museum, is presenting two concurrent exhibitions based on the bizarre world of photographer Roger Ballen.

Having graduated in psychology and then geology, Ballen decided to explore the depth of the human mind through the means of photography. Under his impulsive hand and methodological eye, components emerge, becoming the elements of a theatre of the absurd: the Ballenesque.

The South African photographer, born in New York City, tailors his exhibitions to the host city so this is a Brussels version of the “Ballenesque.”

For many years the internationally recognised artist’s work consisted of black-and-white photographs of the human condition, people on the edge, outsiders, often terrifying but also touching.

But starting in 2003 he stopped doing portraits and now devotes himself to creating ambitious staged photographs combining graffiti, found objects, animals and broken bodies. His is a strange world with images that you will never forget.

The second exhibition is Correspondances in which the Belgian artist Ronny Delrue presents his photographs, in dialogue with those of Roger Ballen, enhanced by his drawings and photomontages of the two artists.

Until 14 March, Centrale

<< Previous <<  |  >> Next >>