# Asylum of the Birds

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/roger-ballen/asylum-of-the-birds/9780500544297

![Asylum of the Birds](https://quivercdn.com/covers/thames-and-hudson/roger-ballen/asylum-of-the-birds_978-05-0054-429-7.jpg?v=2026-08-06%2009%3A58%3A15)

- Book: [Asylum of the Birds](https://www.bookquiver.com/roger-ballen/asylum-of-the-birds) ([Asylum of the Birds.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/roger-ballen/asylum-of-the-birds.md))
- Authors: [Roger Ballen](https://www.bookquiver.com/roger-ballen)
- Publisher: thames_and_hudson
- ISBN: 978-05-0054-429-7
- Pages: 144
- Published: 2014-03-24
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: Hardcover

## Description

This new body of work extends the artistic trajectory charted across Roger Ballen’s three previous books – Outland, Shadow Chamber and Boarding House. The black-and-white images were photographed within the confines of a house in a Johannesburg suburb, the location of which remains a mystery. The inhabitants of the house, both people and animals, and most notably, the ever-present birds, are the cast who perform within a sculptural and decorated theatrical interior that Roger Ballen creates and orchestrates. The resulting images exist in a space between painting, drawing, installation and photography. They are timeless, psychologically powerful and masterfully composed. In a world in which photographers seek to avoid definition, Roger Ballen’s photographs defy classification and genres: his world stands out as one of a kind. ‘At first the images seem dense, incomprehensible, but automatically your brain sets to work picking them apart … compelling’ – Amateur Photographer