In Marias de minha vida (2020), the visual artist, arts educator, researcher and master in education Mirella Maria combines time and memory, tied up in bibliographic narratives from her family members. The starting point for the research is the artist’s attempt to understand the reason why her last name is “Maria” — a common name inside the Brazilian context. During this process, Mirella Maria orally and photographically records her family members, an immersion in which the artist discovers substantial stories of families that are linked to the name-last name and to the ancestral memories. In this research, there is a curiosity that is not shared amongst the people in her family; the artist sees herself before colonial wastes that are still present in the construction of her name-last name: “Maria” is the name of the owners of the enslaved Africans, which was transferred as a mark of power to generations of black families in Brazil. Mirella Maria formats images of this network of family members, composed mainly by women who carry this name-last name, in a dress. This way, “’Marias’ who have run through time will still be present in name, last name, image and living memory”.