Children's Bedroom Wall
Photograph
2000 (made)
2000 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
This photograph comes from a series by South African photographer Roger Ballen called ‘Outland’. In the late 1980s Ballen started documenting isolated white rural communities in South Africa who were in the process of losing the privileges of apartheid that had provided their livelihoods and sustained their identity. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the work shifted and Ballen’s subjects started to act out tableaux for the camera, creating images that are intriguing and disturbing in equal measure. These photographs, which appear to aestheticise scenes of poverty, disrupt a documentary reading of the image and provoke the viewer to consider the role of the sitter: exploited victim or consensual participant?
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Titles |
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Materials and techniques | Gelatin-silver print |
Brief description | Photograph from 'Outland' series by Roger Ballen, South Africa, 2000. |
Physical description | Black and white photograph of a detail of a wall, on which a bundle of wire, a computer cable and a child's drawing of a horse are hanging. The wall is also covered in child's graffiti and drawings, including 'I love tess and monique'. |
Dimensions |
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Style | |
Marks and inscriptions | 'I love tess and monique' (Graffiti visible on wall in photograph.) |
Gallery label |
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Credit line | Given by Roger Ballen |
Subjects depicted | |
Place depicted | |
Summary | This photograph comes from a series by South African photographer Roger Ballen called ‘Outland’. In the late 1980s Ballen started documenting isolated white rural communities in South Africa who were in the process of losing the privileges of apartheid that had provided their livelihoods and sustained their identity. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the work shifted and Ballen’s subjects started to act out tableaux for the camera, creating images that are intriguing and disturbing in equal measure. These photographs, which appear to aestheticise scenes of poverty, disrupt a documentary reading of the image and provoke the viewer to consider the role of the sitter: exploited victim or consensual participant? |
Collection | |
Accession number | E.2072-2004 |
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Record created | March 15, 2004 |
Record URL |
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