Elysia Athanatos, the artist
The Artist... Εlysia Athanatos
From Cyprus to Florence, from China to Faenza, and from there to the entire world, the talented sculptor and ceramist traces a deeply personal journey – one shaped by earth, fire, and silent transformations.
Elysia Athanatos’ childhood was full of energy, curiosity, and an inexhaustible need for creation. “There wasn’t a specific event that led me down this path; it was more about my sensitivity and sense of being different that made me feel like I didn’t quite fit into society’s molds. In art, I found the outlet I had been searching for – a world where I could finally breathe.”
Her drive for evolution led her abroad for her studies, first to London and then to Florence. It was a blend of two distinct approaches to understanding art – one that ultimately guided her toward freedom from all conventions. “By using, on one hand, thought and inner exploration, and on the other, physical experience and contact with matter, I aimed to express and reveal the essence of the spirit.”
In 2009, her constant search took her to the Sanbao Ceramic Art Institute in China where she began experimenting with porcelain. “Until then, I had avoided clay – it felt complex, vast, untouchable. But in Jingdezhen, the world capital of porcelain, I discovered another world full of alchemy, where the transformation of the material happens through the maneuvering of the natural elements.”
Upon returning to Italy, she continued to deepen her knowledge of ceramics at a school in Faenza. There, building on the work she had already developed, she collaborated with Sacmi –one of Italy’s leading companies in ceramic technology– creating seven large-scale porcelain sculptures.
As she matured, so did the way she approached her work. She often transforms her pieces, distorting or even “wounding” their form. “It’s not protest. It’s freedom. It’s healing. It’s the release from fear and a dialogue with myself.” When asked what the greatest truth art has taught, her answer is clear: “Art is truth itself. If there is no truth, there is no art.”
“In art, I found a world where I could finally breathe.”
