Mariana Rocha has been producing autobiographical artistic work, mainly through photography. Using art as catharsis, she explores the self, her surroundings and the relationship with others.

The starting point of this residency was the body of work Mariana developed and photographed between Porto and Lisbon in 2018 and 2019. With the mentor and the designer input, the method of the XYZ residency gave the artist different perspectives about the meaning of her work. They intensely explored the texts she wrote and the book sequence flow. That gave form to the final object and added closure to the project.

Back and Forth, published by XYZ Books in 2022, was the result of this residency. The book approaches the threshold between love and hate, making connections with family ties, new discoveries, griefs, little burdens and letting go.