MEDEA OR THE ALCHEMY OF A BURNING HEART by artist Ioanna Tsouka of Anima ex Manus Art Dolls

Mixed media: paperclay, polymer clay, wire, tulle, silk, lace trims, vintage heavy embroidery and metalwork lace remnant, felt, vegan leather. Her arms and legs are lightly poseable/ bendable. She is hand-painted with soft pastels, acrylics and coloured pencils, and sealed with matte and gloss varnish. She can be displayed on the wall, as she has a hoop on her back; she can also be displayed on a doll stand (not included) or seated on any surface with some back support. The babies are attached to her hands, and are not removable. Her costume is also not removable.

Dimensions: approx. 18.9” tall (48 cm)



Medea, a sorceress whose magic is fueled by the very flames of her suffering, carries the weight of unbearable contradictions. As a figure in Greek mythology, Medea speaks to the timeless struggle of women whose power is feared, whose emotions are misunderstood, and whose stories are far more complex than the roles of villain or victim can contain.

The idea for this piece focuses on her emotional and magical ‘alchemy’, the way her burning heart transmutes her grief and fury into power, but at a crashing cost. This alchemy is not the pursuit of gold, but the transformation of raw human emotion into something far more powerful, and far more dangerous. Every thread of betrayal, every ounce of despair, forges a woman who refuses to be defined by the roles society has forced upon her. Instead, she becomes something transcendent and terrifying - a force of nature, yet tragically undone by the same passions that fuel her strength.

Medea embodies both the healer and the destroyer; her heart ablaze with love that has soured into rage, leads to both her empowerment and her tragic ruin, and while her actions grant her a form of power and justice, they also isolate and destroy her, severing her ties to humanity, leaving behind both her triumph and her tragedy.