CROSSROADS AND ALLIANCES

AZADEH GHOTBI • EMILY BUCK • VICTOIRE D’HARCOURT

Presented by Marie Jose Gallery & Victoria Law Projects

28 January – 15 March 2025, Marie Jose Gallery, 16 Victoria Grove, London W8 5RW

Marie José Gallery and Victoria Law Projects are pleased to present Crossroads and Alliances, an exhibition that brings together three contemporary women artists from distinct cultural backgrounds, each with a unique artistic practice. The exhibition takes its cue from Azadeh Ghotbi’s Crossroads painting series, which serves as the starting point for the thematic exploration of the complex threads that connect us, both spatially and temporally.

While each artist's work speaks individually to the theme of connection, together they create a dynamic dialogue—one that transforms the gallery space into a crossroads where these threads converge, intertwining across time, place, and identity.

For English artist Emily Buck, the act of looking back is central to her practice. She reimagines figures from ancient history, particularly goddesses, embedding them in the context of the Classical World while reinterpreting their significance with a modern sensibility. Her hand-built ceramics bridge the gap between past and present, elevating ancient forms into sculptural pieces where only the poetic fractures suggest their inherent fragility.

French artist Victoire d’Harcourt works with bronze to express a delicate balance between strength and vulnerability. Her sculptural circles, suspended by fine threads, invite contemplation on the nature of their union—whether it is their connection that imbues them with power or their precariousness that exposes their fragility. The material's solidity contrasts with the delicate balance of form, creating a meditation on equilibrium and tension.

In her paintings, Iranian-American artist Azadeh Ghotbi captures the invisible threads that weave individuals together. Her work unfolds as intricate webs of paths, choices, encounters, and separations —interwoven landscapes where lives cross, diverge, and intersect in ways that are both subtle and profound. Each piece becomes a visual manifestation of how our connections shape our journeys.

The works in Crossroads and Alliances echo the sentiment of French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, who once wrote, “We do not receive the world, we make it. We are the sum of our connections.”

De Beauvoir’s reflections on the interconnectedness of human experience resonate wot the exhibition’s exploration of how relationships, histories, and identities coalesce to form the fabric of our lives. Crossroads and Alliances explores the dualities of human connection: past and present, strength and fragility. As these three artists’ work come together, they form a tangible metaphor for the intricate ways in which our lives are bound to one another, offering a reflection on the intersections of history, identity, and human experience.

Selected Works


EMILY BUCK

Persephone, 2019
Hand-built textured black stoneware vessel
54 x 19 cm

Celaeno, 2023
Hand-built textured black stoneware vessel
3 x 34 cm

Dynamene, 2022
Hand-built textured stoneware vessel
29 x 24 cm

Anaeideia, 2019
Hand-built textured off-white stoneware vessel
41 x 39 cm

Maia, 2017
Hand-built textured black stoneware vessel
20.5 x 17 cm

VICTOIRE D’HARCOURT

Clips
Bronze, 19 x 24 cm, 2/8

Alliance XVII bis
Bronze, 40 x 40 cm, 2/8

AZADEH GHOTBI

Crossroad 32, 2022
Acrylic on canvas, 122 x 152 cm

Crossroad 33, 2023
Acrylic on canvas, 122 x 122 cm

Crossroad 35, 2025
Acrylic on canvas, 50 x 50 cm