With Marie, Maroula hand-stitches and beads directly onto photographs. Her work unfolds intuitively through slow, meditative stitching, exploring the dualities of sculpture and shadow, image and thread, and the relationship between the front and reverse of each piece. She is drawn to themes of the seen and unseen, stage versus reality, and the echoes that linger in shadow.

These concepts connect deeply to the story of Marie van Goethem, the 14-year-old dancer who inspired Edgar Degas’ La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans. At the time, impoverished young girls were placed in the Paris Opera Ballet to earn small, overworked wages. Their bodies belonged not only to the stage but also, behind the curtains, to their so-called “protectors,” wealthy older men who kept them as courtesans.

The entire Marie series are pieces of feminist consciousness that use the incredible duality of a ballerina's strength and softness to highlight female power, and to challenge systemic gender inequality.