The fact that his stuff may look like 'Depression-era/dustbowl' stuff, but is taken in the 90's, in a 'modern' country, etc.

Reminds me of when I went to 'post-Ceausescu' Romania 25 years ago, as an independent traveler.
It was a huge culture shock for me...
I only have mental pictures rather than photographic, but they are quite 'Ballenesque' .

Ruttly wrote on 05/02/16 at 20:16:11:

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Ninja -

"People are unconscious, and you have to use your art as a shock machine to wake them up. Some people are too far gone. They'll just keep asking, "Is it real? Is it real?" That's dwanky. That's a word we have in South Africa, "dwanky." It's like lame. "Is it real?" You have to be futuristic and carry on. You gotta be a good guide to help people get away from dull experience."

Die Antwoord's musical and visual style incorporates elements of a "ZEF" culture, described as modern and trashy, appropriating out-of-date, discarded cultural elements.

Yo-Landi Visser -
"It's associated with people who soup their cars up and rock gold and sh!t. Zef is, you're poor but you're fancy. You're poor but you're sexy, you've got style."

Their lyrics are performed in Afrikaans, Xhosa, and English

I think Ballen has a sense of balance, ie. he doesn't use his subjects as 'circus freaks' as such... but puts the perceived world of his subjects into question....the world of their daily existence which we can only wonder upon....and in those shadows lies the 'darkness'.

The same way as the kid playing the banjo in 'Deliverance' is popularly focused on, but for me, the brief view of the granny through the net-covered window in the cabin is far more disturbing.

Well.....this musical thread has sure taken a weird turn!

I think we rode past those guys' place on one of those 'roads less travelled' on this years Sisters rally
*bajo music*  

Rayven, that song is fitting to this threads progression, ain't no church in the wild ...