The Theatre of Apparitions by Roger Ballen

Roger Ballen is one of the most influential and important photographers of his generation, and his iconic series The Theatre of Apparitions has been published as a book, a short film, and is currently on display at the Venice Biennale Arte 2022, one of the most prestigious art events in the world. Now for the first time, a select few of these artworks will be released as a rare limited NFT collection consisting of eight 1/1 NFTs, one 24 hour Open Edition NFT, and one 1/1 NFT Giveaway to one lucky purchaser of the Open Edition.

Ballen’s The Theatre of the Apparitions was initially inspired by the sight of hand-drawn carvings on blacked-out windows in an abandoned women's prison in South Africa. The artworks are photographs of drawings that the artist made on windows inside a building in Johannesburg. By inventing various techniques using materials such as spray-paints, epoxies, resins, emulsions and brushes, the artist created an otherworld in which transient, ghost-like figures perform. For Ballen, the photographs of these figures and the absurd activities in which they engage, present the unfathomable and primal scenes of our mental unconscious.

In particular, The Theatre of Apparitions is a place in which dreams, imaginative scenes, and primordial memory from the afterworld manifest themselves. These spirits or ghosts are imperceptible to the eye, yet they are deeply embedded in our consciousness and in our being. Earthly and otherworldly, physical and spiritual, this work transcends all traditional concepts of photography.

The buyer of each 1/1 NFT will receive a copy of The Theatre of the Apparitions book mailed to them.

The Open Edition will start on Friday, July 8, at 6:30pm ET and will be available for 24 hours. One lucky collector of the Guardian Angel open edition NFT will be airdropped the valuable unique 1/1 NFT Face Off after the timer runs out. Multiple purchases per user allowed.

The Open Edition can be found here.