THE DOLL MAKER/THE DOLL COLLECTOR by artist Anima ex Manus Art Dolls

Mixed media.

Paperclay, polymer clay, a variety of textiles and lace trims, pure silk, silk threads, wire, eco-friendly stuffing, golden leaf, acrylics and soft pastels. She is a double (topsy-turvy) doll and can be displayed as either THE DOLLMAKER or THE DOLL COLLECTOR. She is designed to hang on the wall, as there are loops in the back. 

The mini dolls are also handmade and are included. 

She measures approximately 50 cm (19.7 inches) tall.

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Dolls are honest. Dolls are a mirror. They say what you say, feel what you feel and do what you do, with an underlying effort to impose order on a chaotic world. 

The Dollmaker and the Doll Collector are forever connected through these tangible shadows, these miniature humanoid bodies that hold emotions and trauma, unanswerable questions and hope; endlessly listening to the stories they bear upon their clay little shoulders - our stories. Sometimes we might forget about them, sometimes we might hear them whisper or scream or cry. But whether whispered, screamed or unspoken, truth remains. We are a wonderful mess of blood and bone and beauty, and when pain rises dolls can hold us.

And when the mirror claims us and our reflection dissolves, the dolls will still echo our stories.

“Is it my future, this distortion,

or merely the haunting past,

or what sense tells me: the palpable divide

between flesh and ash”

- “Mirror”, R. Foerster