A world of absurdity, chaos, and subconscious imagery takes shape in Spirits and Spaces, a new experimental short film on YouTube. The film is inspired by the book of the same name by world-renowned photographer and artist Roger Ballen.
Both works explore the strange psychological territory that has come to define the “Ballenesque”, an academic art term used to describe Ballen’s distinctive surreal and unsettling visual style.
After moving to South Africa in the 1980s, Ballen spent decades travelling through small towns and rural communities, creating photographs that explored the lives, environments, and psychological landscapes of people on the margins of society. That work helped establish Ballen as one of the country’s most distinctive visual artists and laid the foundation for the surreal style that would later make him internationally renowned. Ballen co-directed Die Antwoord’s I Fink U Freeky music video, which drew heavily on his visual style and imagery.
Spirits and Spaces was created as a companion film to Ballen’s book. The film was directed by Gabriella Blumberg, with Gavin Pincus serving as director of photography and Marguerite Rossouw as creative director.
The story unfolds as a journey through a transitional interior world of rooms and spaces. Here, a lone spirit awakens in a coffin and wanders through a sequence of six rooms inspired by chapters from Ballen’s book, each embodying a distinct state, as the walls breathe, shadows detach, and the world erupts into chaos around him – transforming the photographic themes into living spaces.
“This is the first photographic book and film in my long career of nearly six decades that I have expressed my world in colour,” says Ballen. “This place should be viewed not as a location that is real versus unreal, but as an uncanny spot that exists somewhere in each of our minds. Upon viewing the film and images you will be unclear as to if whether and when you have ever been to this Ballenesque universe.”
Blumberg says: “Creating Spirits and Spaces felt more like making a documentary than a work of fiction – as though placing a camera within the mind of Roger Ballen. The film invites viewers to step beyond the surface of each photograph and inhabit its liminal space.
“We are thrilled to launch the film on YouTube alongside the release of the book, allowing audiences immediate access to experience both works in dialogue with one another. Presented simultaneously, the film and book encourage us to engage with the project as a unified and immersive experience.”
The book Spirits and Spaces, published by Thames & Hudson, is available on Amazon and Takealot SA. The companion short film is available to watch on YouTube here.