Darius Himes interviews Roger Ballen -> PopPhoto →

There is a small measure of collaboration with the people. But don’t ever underestimate the animals. They play a large role in my photography, and even I am not quite sure what they represent. The metaphor or symbolism of an animal is quite different from that of a human being. Animals have endless mythology and metaphor wrapped up with them, and that mythology and metaphor is particular to different cultures. In the Western world we see a cat one way, and the Chinese see it another. There are probably more animals than humans in my photographs. (…)