JG Ballard: Portraits of the artist

1970: JG Ballard outside the house in Shepperton, Surrey, where he had lived since 1960 Photograph: David Reed/Corbis

1987: JG Ballard working at his writing desk in his Shepperton home Photograph: Martyn Goddard/Rex Features

1987: JG Ballard in Los Angeles Photograph: Corbis

1987: Christian Bale in Steven Spielberg's film version of Ballard's Empire Of The Sun, based on his experiences in a Japanese internment camp during the second world war Photograph: Cinetext/Allstar

1988: JG Ballard at his home in Shepperton in front of a reproduction of a painting by the Belgian surrealist Paul Delvaux Photograph: David Levenson/Getty Images

1989: JG Ballard in the garden of his home in Shepperton Photograph: David Levenson/Getty Images

1992: Ballard once said that he feared "the future is just going to be a vast, conforming suburb of the soul" Photograph: Bleddyn Butcher/Rex Features

1996: James Spader and Holly Hunter in David Cronenberg's film version of Crash, which explores sexual arousal through car crashes Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Features

2006: JG Ballard in the study of his Shepperton home Photograph: John Lawrence/Rex Features

2007: JG Ballard in the garden at his Shepperton home Photograph: John Lawrence/Rex Features

2008: JG Ballard at his home in Shepperton Photograph: Eamonn McCabe/Guardian