Sarah Frances DIAS

Master Sarah Frances Dias is an artist and architect of British origin with roots in Madeira Island, currently living in Lisbon. Attending the second year of the PhD research in Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture of the Technical University of Lisbon. Her research is focused on meaning and art, more specifically, an understanding of architecture as an art and its significance within the self, the being and the world. With the title of the research being ‘Significance and Meaning in Art: Architecture and Painting’, defended publically in July 2014 concluding the first year with the final classification of 18 (equivalent to standard A). The main objective and drive underlying the research is the desire to observe and critically understand the phenomenon of ‘signification’ and ‘meaning’, through the different fields of creations in a comparative and cross-disciplinary research (using architecture and painting, their interdependences, connections and specific contributions towards the phenomena of signification). At the present year, she is also collaborating and assisting with the Colour Laboratory (LabCor-Laboratório da Cor da FAUL) of the University of Lisbon and in 2014 saw the first publications of her research papers in an AIC conference in Oaxaca Mexico (November 2014), and another Conference on Architecture in Lisbon, (October, 2014). In parallel, the architect/author also develops her artistic field, growing her painting practise around the country; having her work represented by collectors, and showcasing individual solo exhibition in various places such as Museu Contemporaneo da Casa das Mudas (Funchal, January 2014) or in the Quinta da Marinha (Cascais, July 2013). Ultimately, the underlying thread between all of the three practices (architecture, research and painting) is a belief in the power of the arts in creating a more sustainable world: one that supports the whole complex human being in all levels of existence (psychologically, emotionally and spiritually).