Isabella Balena was born in Rimini and lives in Milan. She has been Gabriele Basilico's assistant and since 1991 she work as a social and documentary photographer.
She has reported from crisis areas (Iraq, Somalia, Kenya, Sudan, Palestine/Israel, ex-Yugoslavia, Chiapas and Albania) and worked for many NGO’s organizations as a Italian Cooperation in Bosnia, Terre des Hommes in Middle east and Thailand, Cosv in Somalia.
In 1992 she took part in the Kodak European Panorama of Young Photographers and in 1994 was selected for the first Masterclass organized by the World Press Photo Foundation of Amsterdam.
From 1996 to 1998 she collaborated with the magazine D-La Repubblica delle donne. From 1994 to 2007 with Grazia Neri agency and WPN. She still works for the main Italian press and international.
Further to work for the main national and international reviews, concentrating on social issues, she has also participated in numerous photographic and literary projects such as: “Dixie-10 fotografi per Milano”, “Quotidiano al femminile”, “Oltrefamiglia”, “Voci nella città”, “La parola immaginata”, “Elementi urbani”, “Ci resta il nome” with the cellist Mario Brunello and the actor Marco Paolini, the piece theater “Suite Sarajevo” written by Moreno Gentili, Sismycity project on earthquake in Abruzzo and a long trip in Sardinia for the regional ethnic institute (ISRE).
She also has worked for two interesting projects of health communication, “Synthesis” (2011) on a effects of organs transplantation and “A seno nudo” (2012) portraits of women operated on for breast cancer.
Her main long-project “Ci resta il nome” a photographic journey through the memory of the Second World war in Italy is recognized by historians as an examples of visual narrative public history.
