Hip Hop

Lightboxes are inspired by the black-painted windows of a cell, on which a female prisoner had drawn figures in an abandoned women’s prison in Johannesburg (South Africa), Ballen experimented with the use of spray paint on glass, then intervening “by subtraction,” drawing over the paint or removing it with sharp objects to allow natural light to filter through. The result is reminiscent of prehistoric cave paintings: black surfaces devoid of depth become canvases on which the artist engraves thoughts and emotions. Fossilized faces, dismembered body parts, and evanescent shadows, similar to ghostly presences, coexist in images capable of shocking, fascinating, entertaining, and exhilarating the viewer. Timeless and radically innovative, the lightboxes transcend traditional concepts of photography, placing themselves between the physical and spiritual, earthly and otherworldly dimensions. These pictures were selected to represent South Africa at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, as part of the exhibition Into the Light.