Roger the Rat

Roger Ballen created a persona, Roger the Rat. Here, the artist creates and documents an archetypal persona who is a part-human, part-rat creature who lives an isolated life outside of mainstream society. In this film we follow Roger the Rat, as he moves out of his restrictive hovel to an abandoned graveyard of discarded mannequins taking them to his house to dress and communicate with them. Initially Roger the Rat was ecstatic with his newfound companions as he could dress them, talk to them and share his feelings. As time passes, he comes increasingly frustrated by their lack of response which leads to his outbursts of violent and irrational behavior. Roger the Rat, gives expression to the corroding effects of loneliness, seclusion and uncomfortable suffocation in confined spaces afflicted on the human psyche as a consequence of the isolation.