Workshop with Yannis Makridakis | The mastic of Chios at Onassis AiR
Onassis AiR Events
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The workshop will be held in Greek.
Introduction
How is mastic resin farmed? When is the right season for this process? What is the “society of mastic”? Author Yannis Makridakis and Onassis AiR organize a workshop where he will present his experience as a mastic grower and a scholar of the mastic society.
He will talk about the annual cycle of this ancient cultivation process and the social characteristics it created in the mastic villages of Chios, which are now part of humanity’s protected intangible cultural heritage, inscribed on the UNESCO list.
After the workshop, there will be a discussion with the audience about Yannis Makridakis’ latest book titled “Ippopotamoi sintrofias” (Companion Hippos), which emerged from his three-year involvement with mastic resin and the local community. Finally, the author will bring with him samples of the primary forms of mastic, produced as resin after “embroidering” the bark of the mastic trees every summer, so that the public can come into direct contact with this unique product of Chios.
Yannis Makridakis is an Onassis AiR Fellow. His project “People, Drops”, which was supported by Onassis AiR, led to the writing of the novel “Ippopotamoi sintrofias” (Companion Hippos) published by Estia in 2024.
