Roger Ballen was first introduced to Icarus as the ancient tale of the boy who flew close to the Sun.
When he was 6 years old, he made a wax and feathers model. “He put wax and feathers together and began flying towards the Sun,” Photographer It reminds me. The sun was too warm, and the wax melted, and he drowned in the sea.
The story left an impression on the artist, and it is evident in his project Asylum of the Birds. Ballen tells us that the myth of Icarus had always been a major influence on his understanding of birds. Birds can fly. Humans can’t. Birds can fly higher than humans.
Birds do not fly through the skies in his photos. They are right here. The artist says, “They are in a place that is filled with claustrophobia and darkness. There’s a strange enigma surrounding them, including people, drawings, or other objects.” The artist says that the relationship between this place and the heavenly birds is what creates the metaphors in the photographs.
Ballen’s photographs are part of the exhibition Call of the Void at Museum Tinguely, Basel. The two photographic series Ballen has created are Asylum of the Birdsand Roger’s Rats. Images include people, animals and objects arranged in a cohesive way.
Ballen’s works are displayed next to Mengele – Dance of Death, created by Jean Tinguely. This installation of machine sculptures is made from the ashes of a barn that was destroyed in a tragic fire. Ballen’s work explores ghosts, birds and rats while Tinguely takes us to a world of demons.
Ballen’s Call of the Void exhibition is unique in that it includes several components: the photos themselves, the wooden shack you can enter (more below), and two video clips. A catalog of the exhibition can be found via Kehrer Verlag.
As I flipped through the catalog I was reminded of the story of Icarus with his waxen wings. To grasp the full meaning of Roger Ballen’s photographs, it is like trying to fly and getting dangerously close to the sun. The closer I get to the sun, the more I don’t understand. The answers are always just out of my reach and I fall down.