Look, when I did Platteland, the book was published in 1995. Would you say it’s not until you did exhibitions and shows that you thought of yourself as an artist? (The book, Ballenesque: Roger Ballen: A Retrospective, can be ordered here.) I wouldn’t call it artwork until probably about 1996. I was sort of serious photographer from the early 1970 It was a form of expressing my viewpoint in the world. I’ve given the book a lot of thought, and have written about fifty pages for it. It would be interesting to mention in your article that Thames and Hudson Publishers is doing a retrospective book on my life in photography. I was always doing photography, because I did a photo book after that long trip. You became an artist around that time or a little bit afterwards? ©Roger Ballen, The Chamber of the Enigma, 2003 If my mother hadn’t been involved, I probably wouldn’t be in photography. I was introduced to these photographers as a young boy. This is how I actually got involved in photography because she was very passionate about it at the time. She had been working with people like Cartier-Bresson and Streichen and some of the other Magnum people. My mother worked at Magnum in the 1960s, and started one of the first photo galleries in New York in the early 1970’s, and died, unfortunately, in 1973. When did you get into art and photography? It was a special time in the 20th century. Well, it was a great time because it was the period of the counter culture, so it was a very exciting period to be in Berkeley. Then I went to Berkeley in California and got a Bachelor’s degree in the late 1960s. I spent the first five years in New York City, and then I moved to Westchester until I was 18. In this interview, I had the opportunity to get inside the thought process of the artist and his worldview. His innovative work has created a new adjective in the Art world: “ Ballenesque”. He has been widely exhibited in museums and galleries all over the world. Roger Ballenis well known fine art photographer who has been creating exciting imagery for over 50 years. Ken has been producing interviews for his Art and Photography blog, and he has kindly offered to share a his interviews with the Lenscratch audience. Today, we are sharing an interview that photographer and blogger, Ken Weingart conducted with photographer Roger Ballen.
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