Italian artist and curator Maria Rebecca Ballestra dies at 46

Maria Rebecca Ballestra, an Italian artist and curator known for her ecological and social practice, died at age 46. Born in Ventimiglia in 1974, she described herself as a nomad and traveled extensively to the United States, Brazil, China, Taiwan, and Africa. Her major projects include 'Journey to fragility' (2015), a 12-stage journey culminating at the 56th Venice Biennale that examined planetary health, and 'Echoes of the Void' (2016), a 13-stage project on the world's deserts in collaboration with Ca' Foscari University. In 2014, she co-founded the collaborative platform 'Social Soups' with artist Rachela Abbate, focusing on food in artistic and political discourse. In 2015, she organized 'Festival for the Earth' with Ca' Foscari, merging art, culture, and ecology. In 2017, she co-curated the experimental program at Unimediamodern gallery in Genoa with Caterina Gualco, debuting at Artissima 2017 with a solo show of Philip Corner. Her death was announced on her Facebook profile on August 9, 2020.