Olympi is one of Chios’ so-called ‘mastic villages‘, i.e. a community which has historically been focused on the cultivation and processing of mastic.
On a visit to the island last year we spent an enjoyable couple of hours exploring Olympi’s narrow lanes and hidden little squares. The fact that quite a few of the old buildings were in urgent need of attention is not unusual in this part of Greece and, on a positive note, some restoration efforts were clearly under way. What came as a surprise to us, however, was that the unoccupied houses had been used as a canvas for street art. There were colourful paintings all over the village, filling the empty doorways and window openings of many of the abandoned buildings.
Most, if not all, of the paintings appear to have been done by the same artist. Many of them carry the signature ‘Kiliaris’. A little research suggests that this belongs to one Babis Kiliaris, a painter and arts teacher from Chios.
As you can gather from the number of photos I took, the idea greatly appealed to me. You never knew what kind of surprise was waiting around the next corner.
The final photo has nothing to do with street art – on second thought, maybe it has, but not in the sense of the paintings pictured above. The elaborate geometric pattern on the building in the centre is a traditional ‘Xysta’, a way of decorating a facade that (at least in Greece) is only found on Chios. In one of the neighbouring villages a large number of the buildings are covered in such patterns. It will be the subject of a future TravelGumbo piece.
Gorgeous paintings, beautifully captured in your photos. I particularly like the black and white rendering of xysta, which I was once scheduled to see examples of at Pyrgi, but never made it. Must try again.
Thanks for your kind comments. I have a short piece on Pyrgi coming up in two weeks’ time.