Sidival Fila Brazil, b. 1962

Sidival Fila (b. 1962, Paraná, Brazil) is a Franciscan friar and artist whose work unites spirituality and contemporary abstraction. After dedicating many years to religious service, he resumed his artistic practice in 2006, focusing on antique and discarded fabrics — linen, silk, cotton, brocade — which he reworks through stitching, folding, and layering. His practice explores memory, redemption, and the transformation of matter, turning forgotten textiles into luminous abstract compositions. Deeply connected to ritual and reflection, Fila’s work often sits at the threshold between sacred and secular. A distinctive aspect of his career is that proceeds from his art are dedicated to charitable causes, especially supporting children and social development projects.

Selected Exhibitions

2025 – Solo exhibition, Fondazione Memmo, Rome

2025 – Exhibition participation, Centre Pompidou-Metz, France

2024 – Site-specific exhibition, Scuola Grande di San Marco, Venice

2023 – (RE)VERSVS, Vatican Library, Vatican City (solo exhibition)

2022 – Sindoni, Battistero Lateranense, Rome (solo exhibition)

2022 – Tessere la vita, Fondazione Raccolta Lercaro, Bologna (solo exhibition)

2022 – Manifesta – Le Fil du Temps, Lyon Biennale, Lyon

2019 – Golgotha, 58th Venice Biennale, Venice Pavilion (site-specific polyptych)

2019 – La materia svelata, Palazzo Merulana, Rome

2018 – Prospettive Relative, Gallerie Estensi / Palazzo Ducale, Sassuolo (solo exhibition)

2018 – Il filo della grazia, Galleria San Fedele, Milan (solo exhibition)

2016 – Drôles de Trames !, Le Fresnoy, Tourcoing (group exhibition)

2015 – TrasFormAzione, Museo Carlo Bilotti – Villa Borghese, Rome (solo exhibition)

2010 – Trasparenze: Arte per le Energie Rinnovabili, Museo MACRO Testaccio, Rome; later at MADRE, Naples (group exhibition)

2007 – First solo exhibition, Convento San Bonaventura, Frascati

Collections

– Vatican Museums, Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art

– Fondazione Puglisi Cosentino, Catania