Soraya Nematollahi’s ceramic sculptures symbolise the strength and vulnerability coexisting within women’s bodies. Inspired by the stories of pregnant women fleeing Syria, Nematollahi’s sculptures explore the psychological experiences of these women who are forced to seek asylum while carrying another life within them, experiencing a state where their bodies are soft but their reality is hard. This duality of hard and soft is reflected in the work’s materials; glazed terracotta clay begins as a soft material that when fired becomes hard, evocative of the way these women are transformed by their journeys to new lands. The sculptural forms are influenced by ancient fertility goddess statues, many of which are from Middle Eastern regions, the same areas these women are fleeing.