Cida de Aragon was born in 1964 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
She gained her first degree in architecture from the University of Sao Paulo in 1988, but after five years studying architecture, De Aragon found that she was more interested in “the visual aspect, graphics, and installation of arts using digital media”. However, De Aragon feels that her background in architecture is useful to her collaborative art work, such as her involvement with Back to the City, a Newcastle-based project that brings together artists, architects and landscape architects to create public instillations.
In 1988 De Aragon moved to London and undertook casual art and design studies at three colleges: typography and graphic design at St. Martins School of Art and at Sir John Cass School of Art, London Guildhall University; and painting and engraving at the Camden Art Centre. During 1990-91, she worked as a graphic designer in a London-based practice, following which, she undertook a Master of Arts in Computing in Design Middlesex University, London (1992-93).
During 1992-93, De Aragon received a CAPES Scholarship from the Brazilian Ministry of Education and was then registered as an Architect in Germany. Being more interested in graphics and installation of arts using digital media than in architecture, in 1994 she began working as a Graphic Designer and Media Artist in Berlin. Subsequently, she taught digital image design at the Film Academy of Baden-Wurttemberg in Ludwigsburg, Germany (1997-98). The experience of travelling and living in London and Berlin informs the intellectual materials of her work, as she says: “One of my works – an interactive computer installation – is made in 3 languages (Portuguese, my mother tongue, English, and German) and is auto-biographical; exposing the strong influences of the many cultures and places I’ve lived.” Throughout the years of 1993-2008 De Aragon exhibited individual and group work in Germany, Belgium and Australia.
In 2003 De Aragon immigrated to Brisbane, Queensland, where she worked for three years before moving to Newcastle in New South Wales in 2006.
De Aragon’s work is inspired by digital culture, music, language and media. Her work is focussed on the public sphere with a view to improving or changing an urban condition, even if only temporarily. She says:“I hope with my work I can contribute to the development of tolerant and diverse societies. I always say that being a Brazilian means, by default, having to carry a plurality of simultaneous identities inside me. I wish to explore this condition to the maximum and to reflect it in my work.”
De Aragon lives and works in Newcastle with her husband, architect Steffen Lehmann.
- Writers:
- Patel, Neha
De Lorenzo, Catherine
- Date written:
- 2009
- Last updated:
- 2011
