Mariana Dias Coutinho Portugal, b. 1978

Mariana Dias Coutinho is a multidisciplinary artist who has lived and worked in the municipality of Odemira since 2018, where she develops an artistic practice and research centred on places and materialities, informed by questions of dwelling, belonging and coexistence.

Her practice approaches the body as a means of investigating spatial contexts and their diverse phenomenological manifestations, exploring questions of limits and boundaries, their influence, and the ways in which they shape our relationship with space and with others. The body also emerges as an expression of the tensions between public and private space, their distinct rules and dynamics of interaction, questioning social conventions and the ways in which individuality is expressed and projected.

Through processes of material experimentation and the exploration of different ways of working with materials, alongside community-based and collaborative dynamics, Dias Coutinho develops a body of work spanning different media and forms of expression, from sculpture and painting to participatory projects.

She holds a degree in Conservation and Restoration from the Faculty of Science and Technology at NOVA University Lisbon and attended the MAUMAUS Independent Study Programme. She is co-founder and board member of the Project Earth Association, co-founder of CLARA – Centre for the Rural Future and, since 2023, President of CACO – the Association of Artisans of the Municipality of Odemira. She was also the founder and coordinator of SP121, a space for artists’ studios in Lisbon.

Her involvement in these organisations reflects an ongoing commitment to situated artistic practice, ecology, and the strengthening of local communities and knowledge.