Sidival Fila's Liturgical Textile Works Inaugurate Bocconi's New Rome Art Gallery

SDA Bocconi has launched an art gallery at its new Rome campus, Villa Morgagni, with an inaugural exhibition by Brazilian artist and Franciscan friar Sidival Fila. Born in Arapongas, Paraná State in 1962, Fila has lived in Italy since 1985. His practice transforms discarded ecclesiastical artifacts, particularly liturgical textiles, into new narrative forms. The exhibition, part of the Bocconi Art Gallery program that expanded from Milan to Rome last autumn, features works like 'ST 04, Branches sculpture series' (2021) and 'Metafora Avorio 15' (2025). Fila's method involves cutting, sewing, and reshaping fabrics, imbuing them with new semantic value while balancing materiality and transcendence. His artistic influences include 20th-century movements like Arte Povera, European Informalism, and Spazialism. The show runs until May 26. The artist's philanthropic foundation, established in 2021, conducted over 20 initiatives globally in 2025, including water projects in Thailand and Argentina, and surgical care for children in Sierra Leone. Photographer Sara Nicodemi documented the installation.