'I first started taking polaroid photographs in 1963 after I obtained a camera for my Bar Mitzvah present from my aunt. To this day, I can remember the smell of the liquid that one put over the black and white images to preserve them. Polaroids have always had a magical feeling to them. This was especially true years ago, when it took time to process the images that one shot on film. When I first moved to South Africa I would take polaroid photographs of the African people I met. Like myself, they were enamoured by this media.'
Commissioned for Reflex Gallery, Ballen has turned his vision to the classic polaroid format, in a selection of 150 unique images. An extension of the series Ballen is working on currently, these polaroids constitute the first display of colour images by the artist during his entire career.
'A photograph has to feel as if it can never occur again.'
Hardcover linen
17 x 24 x 1.7 cm
Artworks by Roger Ballen
Book and cover design by ..., Staat Amsterdam
Design and layout by Alex Daniels
Essay by Wim van Sinderen
Edition of 850
Published by Reflex Editions
144 pages