Roger Ballen’s project, Boarding House, developed between 2000 and 2008, delves into a unique visual exploration situated in a secluded three-story warehouse near Johannesburg, South Africa. Initially serving mining operations, this remote structure—encircled by the barren expanse of gold mine tailings—was later inhabited by transient residents who transformed it into a labyrinth of improvised living spaces. While a real location, Ballen's images reshape the physical structure into a metaphorical and fictitious place, intended to represent spaces within the viewer's mind.
At its core, Boarding House pursues an imaginative descent into the subconscious, navigating psychological spaces marked by chaos, absurdity, and primitive instinct. Compositions are meticulously staged tableaux incorporating drawings, sculptural elements, and deliberately placed objects that symbolize deeper narratives. Figures are fragmented or obscured, frequently reduced to isolated body parts or replaced by props and animals, enhancing the surreal and enigmatic tone.
Ballen employed a medium-format camera with square film, embracing black-and-white photography as a means to abstract reality and heighten the project’s discomforting tone. His method involved constructing elaborate sets where structure and disorder coexist in meticulously staged scenarios.
Published as a monograph in 2009 and premiered at Hamiltons Gallery, London (2009), Boarding House was subsequently shown at Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles (2011) and folded into major retrospectives, including the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art (2013), Istanbul Modern (2016–17), Fotografiska (Stockholm), and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. This exhibition history consolidated the series’ role in defining Ballen’s mature "Ballenesque" visual language.
