The solo show "A dignidade da matéria" by Sidival Fila at Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo

The Fondazione Filantropica Sidival Fila is pleased to announce A dignidade da matéria, the first solo exhibition by Sidival Fila at Galeria Luisa Strina. After more than forty years in Rome, Sidival Fila presents his art to Brazil: a meaningful reconnection with his roots, in a gallery he admired during his years in São Paulo, after leaving Paraná.

This exhibition invites reflection on the time inscribed in matter and the memory each fabric preserves. The materials chosen by Sidival Fila — antique linens, liturgical brocades, floral silks, Guatemalan textiles — carry traces of the passage of time: oxidations, infiltrations, accumulated dust, signs of wear, grease stains, perforations, and folds. Removed from their original function, these fabrics become surfaces of memory, where what was once “discarded” becomes presence.

Sidival Fila’s practice does not aim to restore or dominate the materials: the artist intervenes with measured and attentive gestures — stitching, tensioning, cutting, suspending — allowing the time embedded in the fibers themselves to manifest. The minimal gesture, the stitch, the tension become tools to reveal the silent energy of the materials, shaping vibrant, meditative surfaces in which each fragment retains its own authenticity.

The exhibition traverses the most emblematic series of his work:

• Antique linen and Antique silk, where the strength of the work emerges from the weave itself, and the minimal gesture becomes a vector of vibration and presence;

• Metafore, composed of sutured fragments that dialogue with the monumental dimension of the space;

• Flowers, in which 19th-century floral silks are mounted on mirrors, allowing the viewer’s reflection to emerge among the flowers and transforming perception into an experience of lived time, where past and present intertwine.

• Guatemalan fabrics from the Mitchell Denburg Collection, honoring the creativity of local weavers and the living textile traditions of Antigua. Through its nonprofit branch, the New Roots Foundation, the Collection supports initiatives like La Nueva Fábrica, a contemporary art space that the Fondazione Filantropica Sidival Fila supports through philanthropy and grants.

  
  

Father Sidival’s Franciscan spirituality serves as a silent key to his practice: poverty as a choice, the textile as practice, mending as language. Silence, listening, and contemplation guide the artist’s interventions, respecting the material and revealing its dignity, showing how that which has lost its utilitarian function does not lose its ontological meaning.

The exhibition is accompanied by a curator’s text by Giancarlo Hannud, reflecting on the memory preserved in matter and the ability of the work to restore value and presence to what time has traversed.

We invite you to join the inauguration and visit the exhibition, open until May 16th, 2026, Monday to Friday, 10:00 AM–7:00 PM, and Saturday, 10:00 AM–5:00 PM. Free admission.

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OPENING

Thursday, March 12th, 2026, 6 - 9 PM

Galeria Luisa Strina

R. Padre João Manuel, 755 - São Paulo, Brazil

Free admission