Eat What’s on Your Plate #3 (Immigrants Make America Great!), 2025

Alex Hodge   New & remarkable Artists

This ceramic sculpture challenges traditional notions of domesticity. It presents a bold collision between decorative elegance and sharp social commentary. A dense pattern of blue lace covers the surface. This intricate motif evokes classical craftsmanship and timeless femininity. 
Overlapping this delicacy is a striking red inscription. The text delivers a powerful political statement on identity and national belonging. The contrast between the fluid floral patterns and the rigid lettering creates immediate tension. 
The artist utilizes the medium of porcelain to explore complex cultural intersections. By layering a provocative message over a traditionally ornamental design, the artwork questions what we consume and accept. The form mirrors a serving platter, transforming a tool of hospitality into a vehicle for critical dialogue. Each stroke of color emphasizes the friction between inherited traditions and contemporary reality. The piece concludes with a stark visual rhythm, blending the soft curves of the lace with the aggressive energy of the red typography.

(Immigrants Make America Great!) This piece remakes the slogan, Make America Great Again, which was also a product of the Reagan era. Many scholars assert that it has origins as a dog whistle to the Ku Klux Klan, along with other phrases such as “America First." This platter, being the largest of all, acknowledges and ingratiates itself with the true backbone of America, immigrant communities. In dropping the last word, it also asserts that there is no backward in which this country was better. The Eat What's on Your Plate series is comprised of wall plates that draw on the history of blue and white pottery as symbols of wealth, elitism and consumerism. The plates beckon the viewer with brash red text reminiscent of Barbara Kruger's work. The title phrase is a play on words in several capacities, directing the audience to deal with what is at hand, while simultaneously admonishing the act of taking from others. They are all hand built using the slab method, and utilize underglaze painting, carving and transfers. 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. 

Hand-built plate with sgraffito. From the Blurb series