James Bollen discusses his stunning photographic project about J.G. Ballard

Date
20 August 2014

The best of J.G. Ballard’s fiction is incredibly divisive. On the one hand readers are often disgusted by his brutality; an unparalleled ability to paint a picture of the world that is at once alluring and repulsive. On the other, devotees love that about him. As a result he encourages a near-obsessive loyalty among fans, for a body of work so distinct it’s been awarded its own adjective by the Oxford English Dictionary.

One such devotee, James Bollen, discovered Ballard’s work fairly late on in his professional career, but made up for lost time when he moved to Shanghai. Then his interest became all-consuming, resulting in a five-year project that saw him exhaustively document his new city, exhibiting his photographs in 2012 and finally releasing a book, Jim’s Terrible City earlier this year. We caught up with him to find out more about the project and Ballard’s influence on his work.

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James Bollen: Jim’s Terrible City

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James Bollen: Jim’s Terrible City

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James Bollen: Jim’s Terrible City

Tell us what Jim’s Terrible City is about.

It’s a photographic portrayal of Shanghai depicting images, themes and ideas found in J.G. Ballard’s fiction.

What came first, an interest in Ballard or an interest in Shanghai?

Both at the same time! I saw Steven Spielberg’s spellbinding adaptation of Empire of the Sun before reading anything Ballard wrote. That got me interested in his writing.

When did you first come up with the idea for the project?

I moved to Shanghai five years ago. Not long after arriving, I went on a bike tour of J.G. Ballard landmarks organised by a friend. It included his old house and the camp at Lunghua he and his family were interred at by the Japanese army during the Second World War. One week to the day afterwards I heard the news that J.G. Ballard had passed away. I felt his loss was a huge blow, and as I explored and walked around Shanghai more I found myself thinking about him and his work.

At the same time, I started seeing things which could have come out of one of his short stories or novels – such as mannequins dumped on streets, abandoned buildings etc – and began photographing them. The most obvious example of this is the photograph of the derelict fighter plane. Jim in Empire of the Sun imagines he is flying one in both the book and the film.

How long did you spend putting the series together?

Five years. The photos were actually all taken in a period of just over two. I was unable to find a publisher for the book, so spent another two learning how to design and print one from scratch. Then I waited another year as I wanted to publish it on the fifth anniversary of Ballard’s death as a tribute to him, as well as both my uncle Jims who I mention at the end.

What’s your relationship to Shanghai compared to Ballard’s?

I don’t think it’s entirely dissimilar to his in the sense that he was an observer of the city. If you’ve read his autobiography you’ll know that as a boy he went on epic bike rides around Shanghai. The city at that time was a place of great extremes – wealth, poverty, decadence, violence, intrigue and so on. What Ballard saw on his bike rides contributed a fair amount to his material. This is another similarity we share in our relationship with Shanghai; it’s been a big influence on our work.

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James Bollen: Jim’s Terrible City

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James Bollen: Jim’s Terrible City

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James Bollen: Jim’s Terrible City

Does the world that Ballard describes in Empire of the Sun still exist today?

The war and extreme violence, poverty and suffering no longer do, though perhaps it can be argued that they manifest themselves in the continued destruction of buildings constructed around the time the book was set. The surrealism, unreality and decadence of the city he described still exist.

You’ve interspersed the images with quotes from Ballard’s fiction. What kind of relationship did you have with his estate and his publisher?

The Wylie Agency runs J.G. Ballard’s literary estate, while Harper Collins hold quotation permissions rights. His daughter Fay helped put me in touch with them. Both she and her sister Bea oversee the estate. In addition to their own artistic careers and family lives, they deal with many requests like mine.

All have been hugely helpful and supportive of the book, and without that and their generosity, it wouldn’t be in print – I wasn’t charged for rights usage. I’m extremely grateful to them, especially since this is my first book.

How did the project develop when Fay Ballard got involved; what kind of context was she able to add?

Fay’s involvement took the book to another level simply as a result of her introduction. It’s an incredibly beautiful and moving account of her following in her father’s footsteps in Shanghai. At the same time it gives an insight into her father’s life there and how it influenced him and his writing.

Tell us a favourite story that took place while putting the book together.

This goes back to Fay. Two years ago James Cohan Gallery held an exhibition of my photographs from the series in Shanghai. One day before, I heard that Fay and her family were due to arrive in the city on the date of the opening.

I emailed and called a few people to try and get hold of her, though in the end while Fay was made aware of the opening, she wasn’t able to attend (she was later kind enough to write to me and explain why). We kept in touch about the project, which culminated in her writing its foreword. Her father once wrote, “Deep assignments run through all our lives. There are no coincidences.”

What next? Can you just put Shanghai and Ballard down or have you got the bug?

I don’t think I or anyone else should put Ballard down. His passing is a major loss to us, particularly in terms of writing and making sense of the world we are living in. More people are realising how certain aspects of what he wrote about have come to pass, and are coming to pass. In addition his increasing influence on artists is becoming more apparent – for example Ben Wheatley is currently filming an adaptation of High Rise with Tom Hiddleston cast as the lead.

As for me, I’ve still got the bug. I’m now editing the photographs for my next book which is also about Shanghai. It might be considered a natural follow-on from Jim’s Terrible City as it involves the interiors of abandoned buildings.

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James Bollen: Jim’s Terrible City

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James Bollen: Jim’s Terrible City

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James Bollen: Jim’s Terrible City

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About the Author

James Cartwright

James started out as an intern in 2011 and came back in summer of 2012 to work online and latterly as Print Editor, before leaving in May 2015.

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