If you ever find yourself hiking on and off trails in the mountains, or wandering around an industrially-shaped countryside landscape and looking for places that are not heavily trailed by human footsteps, then you might be able to spot Italian artist Maddalena Granziera at work. Explorative hikes are creatively and spiritually meaningful to the Veneto region-based emergent artist, whose painting and photographic artwork is imbued with surreal geographic references echoing cosmic allusions, her imagination, and a planet Earth untouched by human presence.

After cheerfully strolling along a silent Venetian fondamenta in the still warm autumnal twilight, we meet artist Barbara De Vivi who leads us into her tiny studio. It makes such a contrast to leave the comfort of the warm sun to explore the grotto-like space where De Vivi, a Venetian emergent artist, colourfully layers mythology, ancient iconography, and contemporary imagery within her paintings.