Notes

The present lot was printed by Dennis da Silva.

Since the 1970s, Roger Ballen's work has often featured children. The artist aims to capture their spontaneity and their ability to improvise any space into a playground. The composition of Ballen’s surreal images usher the viewer into an imaginary world in which the distinction between what is real and what merely appears to be, is blurred, similar to the imaginary worlds that the children employ within their play. ¹

In the present lot, Ballen showcases his signature black and white photographs in square format, capturing two children in a plain room with one standing, arms entangled in a curious gesture, the other perched on a stool, mouth open in an ambiguous cry or laugh. The photograph is both playful and unsettling, consistent with the artist's previous series. The sparse setting, with only a toy pram in the background, allows the children’s gestures and expressions to dominate the scene, transforming an ordinary domestic moment into a surreal landscape.

¹(no date) Michaelis School of Fine Art, Playpen | Roger Ballen, online, https://humanities.uct.ac.za/michaelis/events/playpen-roger-ballen, accessed 25 August 2025.

Provenance

Goodman Gallery, 11 May 2004.

Private Collection.

Exhibited

North-West University Gallery, Potchefstroom, Playpen, 22 March to 11 May 2012, another example from the edition exhibited.

University of Cape Town, Cape Town, Playpen, 5 September to 9 October 2013, another example from the edition exhibited.

Literature

Roger Ballen (1994) Platteland: Images from Rural South Africa, Rivonia: William Waterman, another example from the edition illustrated in black and white, unpaginated.

(no date) Edge of Humanity Magazine, Life In The South African Countryside – 1980’s & 90’s, online, https://edgeofhumanity.com/2017/08/24/africa-13/, accessed 25 August 2025, another example from the edition illustrated.