FABIANA SILBERSTEIN AND THE JOYFUL WORLD OF THICK SKIN

Some artistic practices begin with a material.

Others begin with a memory, a habit, or a way of moving through the world.

For Fabiana Silberstein, the Thick Skin series brings these elements together through textile, plaster, colour, and personal identity.

“As an artist, I’m always wearing these really big shirts. This is the way I present myself to the world”

For Fabiana, the oversized shirt becomes both a personal signature and the starting point for Thick Skin.

Before developing Thick Skin, Fabiana spent much of her creative life working across fashion, styling, and art direction. As she explains, “I worked in fashion, styling, and art direction for the most part of my life.” This background is still present in her work today, especially in the way she approaches fabric, form, colour, and the body.

Her move toward visual arts became more focused in 2023, when she went to the United States to study. “In 2023, I went to the States and I studied visual arts,” she says. “And this is where the Thick Skin series started.”

The series brings together textile and plaster sculptures mounted on canvas. The works are not simply paintings, but they are not traditional sculptures either. They sit somewhere in between, creating a strong sense of relief while still being connected to the wall.

A behind-the-scenes look at Fabiana’s process, where textile, plaster, colour, and form come together

As Fabiana describes it, “It’s a 3D object in the sense that you have the relief, but then you can hang it on the wall as a painting.” This gives the series a beautiful tension: the pieces feel familiar, like clothing or fabric, but they are transformed into something more permanent and sculptural.

The shirt is at the heart of the work. For Fabiana, it is not only a visual subject, but something personal. It reflects the way she presents herself, the way she feels comfortable, and the way she identifies as an artist. Through plaster, these shirts become still and almost timeless. “Plaster just kind of makes them be suspended in time,” she says.

Fabiana Silberstein’s Thick Skin series presented during ARRIVAL Gallery’s London event, May 2026.

Colour also plays an important role in the emotional world of Thick Skin. Fabiana chooses colours that feel positive and personal to her. “I use colors that are uplifting to me,” she explains, adding that “they’re part of my universe.”

This joyful energy is something she wants to share with the audience. “I am also expecting my audience to have an uplifting, joyful experience when they look at them,” she says.

A piece from Thick Skin placed outdoors, showing the shirt as both a familiar object and a sculptural form.

Through Thick Skin, Fabiana turns something everyday into something expressive. A shirt becomes a sculpture. A personal habit becomes a visual language. A material becomes a way of speaking about identity, presence, and joy.

ARRIVAL Gallery is happy to share Fabiana’s work and celebrate the colourful, thoughtful world she is building through this ongoing series.

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