February | March 2010 - Boston Photography Focus

Roger Ballen, from the monograph Boarding House, courtesy of the artist and Gagosian GalleryJL: Do you find any aspects of your work thatconnect with the South African culture?RB: The boarding house obviously hadcertain aspects of South African culture init. For example, there were witch doctorsand other mixes of African cultures in it.There are other cultures such as whitecultures, Indian cultures, but when youlook at South African culture, it is more orless of a melting pot of cultures like theUnited States. My goal wasn’t to necessarilyrepresent South African cultures or toportray it, my goal ultimately was to makevisual statements that had universal sensibilityand aesthetic to them. It isn’t reallynecessary to know anything about SouthAfrican culture to feel or have impactfrom these images.JL: Have there been any challenges in translatingyour images to book form?RB: At the end of the day, each pictureshould have its own meaning. I think themost important thing is that each imageshould be strong. Each image came fromthe same mother, per say, so there shouldbe some link in a book some way or another.There are always issues on how bigto make the book, or how one picture willgo with the next, but there is a cinematicquality to it, one picture following theother. Ultimately it is about each individualpicture.JL: Do you have any plans to transition yourwork from black and white to color?RB: ZERO plans! I don’t like color at all. SoI do not have any interest in working incolor. I’m quite satisfied with how I work.I get good pictures. Why change things?You’re only asking for trouble.www.prcboston.org > 19