Roger Ballen

ABOUT ROGER BALLEN

American artist who photographed the Woodstock festival in the summer of 1969. Since then, he has developed a style of photography that draws upon influences from philosophy and psychology to reveal aspects of the subconscious mind.

He was introduced to thinkers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Martin Heidegger while attending UC Berkeley during the 1960s.

He was named Photographer of the Year at the 2002 Rencontres d'Arles festival. He shares examples of his work on his rogerballen Instagram account, where he has gained upwards of 120,000 followers. In the year 2018, he founded the Inside Out Centre for the Arts in Johannesburg, South Africa.

His father, Irving Ballen, worked as an attorney. His mother, Adrienne Ballen, co-founded the Photography House Gallery with Inge Bondi.

His unique aesthetic was influenced in part by novelist Franz Kafka and psychiatrist Carl Jung .