Anyone familiar with Bottega Veneta and the visionary output of their Creative Director, Tomas Maier, will know that since the German designer joined the Italian fashion house back in 2001, every one of the seasonal campaigns have involved a collaboration with a visual artist. Previously, they’ve been names as varied and esteemed as Pieter Hugo, Peter Lindbergh and even Juergen Teller. This time around, the woman behind the camera is Viviane Sassen, who reprises her duties for a second time having also shot the SS16 campaign for the brand.

With her uniquely well attuned eye for outdoor photography, Sassen was a natural choice for this particular project because of its impressive setting: the Grande Cretto of Gibellina. This vast piece of land-art (located in Sicily), which stretches to 80,000 square meters and was conceived as a kind of experimental monument to the village of Gibellina that was destroyed by a massive earthquake in 1968, is by seminal post-war Italian artist Alberto Burri. With Burri’s cracked, symbolically charged slabs of concrete acting as the perfect foil to Bottega’s fluid, draped collection, this almost feels like a collaboration between three artists: Maier, Sassen and Burri.

A purposeful creative decision rather than a happy accident, Maier himself noted this, remarking, “Viviane’s photography has an inescapable enigmatic quality to it, a refinement and acute independence. Together we have explored both the artistic landmarks for the campaigns that are more than a backdrop but rather an added voice to our collaboration.” Watch out for the stunning campaign images (dreaming wistfully of Sicilian summers, no doubt) and check out the BTS video above for a peek into the shooting process.