on: How to be an Apple on a Cherry’s Stem
2 #SKG BRIDGES Festival
Yedi Kule Project
Yedi Kule (or Eptapyrgio in Greek) is a Byzantine and Ottoman-era fortress located at the corner of the Acropolis in Thessaloniki, Greece.
In the 1890s, the fortress was converted into a prison, becoming a frequent reference in the underground rebetiko music. Many songs mention its colloquial name, Yedi Kule, and it gained further notoriety as a prison for political detainees during the Metaxas Regime, the Axis Occupation of Greece, and throughout the post-war period, from the Greek Civil War to the Regime of the Colonels.
It presents a poignant architectural and historical paradox—a building originally designed to protect its residents from external threats later became a place to isolate prisoners from the outside world.
The prison remained operational until 1989, when it was relocated outside the city. Afterward, the site was managed by the Ministry of Culture and the regional Byzantine archaeology service.
As part of the 2nd #SKG BRIDGES Festival, inmates from the prison participated in a painting workshop held at the current prison facilities, led by students from the 3rd Painting Atelier of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Their works, along with pieces by the students, including my own, were later exhibited at Yedi Kule. My contribution, On: How to be an Apple on a Cherry’s Stem, was shown in the exhibition titled Memory - Justice - Art: Because it is a Family Matter.
The work is a handmade handkerchief placed in a chapel window, resting on a rock. Embroidered on the fabric is a a paradoxical fruit —either a cherry stem holding a small apple, or an apple with a cherry stem.
This symbolic contradiction reflects the many paradoxes of the story: the fortress’s transformation from a place of protection to one of confinement, the paradox of a system called “correctional” that more often isolates than rehabilitates, and the human paradox of needing sunlight, fresh air, touch, and interaction, yet being kept away by other human beings.
How can an apple grow on a cherry stem?
