A major figure in the contemporary art scene, Roger Ballen has, for more than forty years, declined the intricacies of his unconscious through the development of stagings that oscillate between dream and reality. His strange works invite the viewer to enter his mind for an extreme journey: the exploration of the recesses of his soul and his secret impulses.

For this thirteenth title in the Birds collection, the South African photographer has made a selection of photographs, for the most part unpublished, especially for the book. In closed universes, where graffiti, signs, shadows and fragments accumulate, stories are played out that jostle our gaze. The boundary between fantasy and drama is blurred. The non-logical world of a mischievous and sometimes not-so-kind Alice in Wonderland seems to come to life before our eyes. Birds wisely posed among a doll's decor, emerging behind a wall of pasteboard, evolving in the middle of abandoned toys and broken by a dissatisfied child, or even balancing on balloons, teaming up with teddy bears, real or drawn: all participate in the amused delirium of the artist.

This book is part of collection Des oiseaux (On birds) which celebrates, through the vision of different artists, their immense presence in a world where they are now vulnerable. Accompanying these photographs, the ornithologist Guilhem Lesaffre writes a special essay. Other titles in the collection include: Albarrán Cabrera, Graciela Iturbide, Leila Jeffreys, Rinko Kawauchi, Michael Kenna, Christophe Maout, Byung-Hun Min, Yoshinori Mizutani, Paolo Pellegrin, Bernard Plossu, Pentti Sammallahti and Terri Weifenbach.