Maria Rebecca Ballestra_ Journey into Fragility_Sacred Landscape


The work Sacred Landscape is the work realized during the third step and it consists of a series of images taken in the Isalo Park, one of the wildest and most beautiful park of Madagascar, extending over 81.000 hectars massive of sand and stones, eroded over millennia by wind and water. In this protected area is possible find hundred of endemic species, different type of animals and birds, and severals plants such as “elephant foot” (Pachypodium) and Isalo Aloe (loe Isaloensis).

Originally the park was covered of primary Forest, of which now nothing remain. Inside the park there are many sacred places for Bara’s Tribe, like funeral places and tomb in natural cavities of rocks enclosed by dry stone walls. It’s also easy to find heaps of stones, each representing a wish that Aborigines turn to the spirit of Nature.

Sacred Landscape becomes a place of memory, which expands the spaces of eternity beyond the time of human individuality. In the Sacred Place the mas is integrated with Nature, in the Isalo Park the aboriginal find the herbs for healing, is a place of imagination and hope, and finally a space for his passing. The landscape has shifted to an other sacred place, the “Art space” as place of contemplation!

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