Dr. Georgios Makris

Biography

Georgios (Yorgos) Makris specializes in Byzantine art and archaeology, focusing on material culture, landscape, monasticism, and the use of portable objects in the medieval eastern Mediterranean. He is currently working on a monograph that examines sacred topography, artistic production, and the life-cycle of monasticism in the context of Europe’s hinterland and Byzantine capital, Constantinople. His book primarily addresses fundamental aspects of medieval monastic culture, engaging with material issues of design and interior decoration of monastic spaces, alongside broader subjects including the interaction of architecture and landscape, daily routine, social dynamics, and patronage from the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries. Makris's work lies at the intersection of art history, archaeology, and cultural history. As an active archaeologist, he is involved in several archaeological projects and is the co-director of the Molyvoti, Thrace, Archaeological Project (MTAP), focusing on a surface survey of a trading port in northeastern Greece, which explores the site's changing geopolitical and economic connections. Additionally, he is conducting a research project that investigates the collective significance of jewelry and personal dress accessories in the daily lives of Byzantines, involving artifacts from medieval cemeteries. His scholarship has received support from various institutions, including Dumbarton Oaks and Koç University's Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations. He has also held postdoctoral appointments at Columbia University and Princeton University. Before joining the University of British Columbia, he was an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Art History at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Research Interests