Roger Ballen.! drawing meets photography
Museum Gugging, Maria Gugging, Austria
September 25, 2025 – February 15, 2026
Funeral rites, 2004
© Roger Ballen
Untitled, 2020
© Roger Ballen
Wall shadows, 2003
© Roger Ballen
The exhibition roger ballen.! drawing meets photography by South African-based photo artist ROGER BALLEN (*1950) transcends the boundaries between photography and other art forms, at museum gugging.
© NÖ Museum Betriebs GmbH, Daniel Hinterramskogler
"With Roger Ballen, we are bringing one of the most important and influential photographic artists of the 21st century to museum gugging," explains Nina Ansperger, the exhibition's curator. Over the past decades, his artistic work has evolved from narrative photography to a work increasingly dominated by drawing. Drawing is therefore the focus of this exhibition. "Roger Ballen is closely connected to Jean Dubuffet's idea of Art Brut and defines himself as an 'outsider.' Drawing, as a central element of his photographic art, is simultaneously the most important medium of the art from Gugging. Thus, not only the subject matter but also the location of the exhibition could not be more appropriate," Nina Ansperger asserts.
Roger Ballen, who refers to himself as an “outsider,” said: “I have brought drawing and photography into painting to produce a mixed medium image. It has been my goal to break down the boundaries between photography and other arts, taking photography out of its self-isolation as a form.”
© NÖ Museum Betriebs GmbH, Daniel Hinterramskogler
New York-born Roger Ballen has lived in South Africa for several decades. His photographic works, created over 40 years, possess incredible narrative power because they oscillate between painting, drawing, installation, and photography. His “Ballenesque” aesthetic is unsettling, vehemently demands self-reflection and leads to a journey into one’s own unconscious.
Curator: Nina Ansperger
MUSEUM GUGGING
Am Campus 2, 3400 Maria Gugging
