Internal Dialogue, ceramic, latex and foam, 2024

Internal Dialogue is a sculptural ceramic installation by UK-based artist Alex Simpson, investigating the female body as a site of care, transformation, and emotional interiority.

This body of work features handbuilt clay forms arranged on a bespoke pink latex and foam platform. The objects recall torsos, bones, tongues, hair, spines, and vessels, formed using traditional ceramic techniques such as coiling and pinching, then sanded to achieve a soft, skin-like surface. Clays were custom blended to echo tones of flesh, skin, and internal organs, creating a palette that is both sensual and clinical.

The platform is constructed from modular units scaled to Simpson’s own body and references beauty salon beds, hospital gurneys, and gym mats, spaces of transformation, vulnerability, and discipline. This horizontal arrangement resists monumentality, proposing instead a terrain of bodily memory.

Internal Dialogue positions ceramic practice as a haptic, sensory, and feminist act. The bodily nature of the clay echoes the prehistoric Venus figurines, while the carefully constructed environment creates a quiet, affective space for reflection.