Roger Ballen - Shadows of the Mind
Exhibition Catalog | MOMus-Thessaloniki Museum of Photography
The catalog was designed by Metallus Creative Design, for Roger Ballen "Shadows of the mind" exhibition, that took place at the MOMus-Thessaloniki Museum of Photography, during the period 03.03.2020 - 08.06.2020.
The objective was to promote the work of the artist, by visualizing the typography like the architectural disorder that rules his work. Thus, a grid system was created that skillfully and "directed”, self-destructs its rules, aiming to challenge the reader to search for the substance in the content. So similar to what the artist does. The catalogue is in black and white, as Roger Ballen's photographs are, but with subtle blue highlights that symbolize the artist's constant effort to penetrate the soul in order that an explosion of more spontaneous emotions take place.
"The idea of using drawing in my photographs came about as a result of interaction with my subjects, many of whom would regularly draw on the walls of their rooms. I would then place these individuals against their drawings, hoping that a visual relationship would appear. In Man Drawing Chalk Faces, the subject was unaware that his drawings mirrored himself.'
[Roger Ballen]
"My hope is to challenge the viewer’s own assumptions about their knowledge of reality. In other words, what we perceive as real may be unreal, and what we perceive as unreal might be real. Alternatively, neither might be the case."
[Roger Ballen]
"A photograph can confirm what we implicitly understand but cannot express. In my opinion, the best images are those for which we cannot find words."
[Roger Ballen]
© For the catalog photographs: Giorgio Papadopoulos
