Head Inside Shirt, R. Ballen 2001

At first glance, Ballen is a photographer in the line of Walker Evans or Lewis Hine, recording the society of rural South Africa. Of course he is a doumentary photographer, it's without doubt! He has a neutral style, the photos are black and white, he's pushed in on the subjects who are looking directly at the camera. The subjects are frequently shirtless, and just as frequently in need of a bath and a haircut. But look a bit further and that neutral style becomes deadpan. The photos may have a superficial resemblance to the work of social documentary, but there's a different feel. The subjects of his photography have all seen the FSA images of a generation ago, and are all "in on it" they know what a documentary photo is and what it's supposed to do. Their participation in the photo is that of a fully informed performer with their own agenda, rather than a subject, and therein lies the irony and the humour of the images. Ballen, if he does not encourage this participation, at least allows it.

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