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Alex Hodge 1
The Weight of Your Head Porcelain Cup, Sgraffito Detailing, Unique

2019

About the Item

This cup is one of 48 that make up the installation, “Fragments of Our Love Story.” These cups feature feminine forms which recall the Venus of Willendorf and other historical fertility objects. The carvings include many of my own writings and flow from one cup to another. Just as we hold each other’s stories in pieces and parts, the cups now exist throughout time and space, with many collectors. No two have the same words, making each unique in body, color, and content. The lady cups reference the ancient tradition of feminine totems and goddess figures with their plump bellies and wide hips. In contrast to contemporary beauty ideals, these figures demonstrate the capacity for life and abundance that used to be celebrated. By covering large sections of their forms with her own poetic text, she fills them with a narrative of love, each poem spilling from one cup to the next. The continuity across feminine forms reflects the way that women’s stories are often fragmented by culture and time. Alex Hodge is an artist-ceramist primarily interested in creating work that juxtaposes the canon of Western art with the lived experiences of contemporary women. As a queer woman growing up in the rural south, she became familiar with the feeling of being on the periphery, spending her youth wandering the woods, collecting material for small sculptures and creating stories for herself.