Quaderni di Venezia Arti

Maria Rebecca Ballestra: Absence Between Nature and Human Being in Echoes of the Void

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Abstract

Maria Rebecca Ballestra (1974‑2020) was an Italian artist whose work focused on ecology, climate change, and the Anthropocene. In Echoes of the Void (2015‑20), one of her latest projects, the absence of humans is central: photographs of the world’s largest deserts convey a sense of emptiness and highlight Nature’s persistence. The work challenges conventional perceptions of deserts as empty, isolated spaces, instead presenting them as sites that disorient, test, and accompany the individual. This paper examines how her work explores the dynamics between Nature and Humanity.


Open access

Submitted: Oct. 15, 2025 | Published Dec. 15, 2025 | Language: en

Keywords Ecology • Human-nature relationship • Deserts • Absence • Climate change

Copyright © 2025 Bianca Romano. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


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