Katerina Alexander, also known as “fig tree” on social media and YouTube, is a 23-year-old archaeologist and filmmaker, who is currently pursuing a master’s degree, in the “Aegean Bronze Age Archaeology” at the University of Athens. Deeply influenced by her father’s art and her grandparents’ Greek heritage, she is now creating her own path by filming “Tracing Odysseus”, a three-part cinematic documentary retracing Homer’s Odyssey from Troy to Ithaca. The documentary will be funded by Skip Ahead, a joint funding initiative by Screen Australia and YouTube Australia, which help digital creators produce original documentary projects.
A childhood filled with Greek mythology
Katerina grew up in Sydney, around her yiayia and pappou, who spoke mainly Greek. She attended the Greek church sporadically and celebrated Greek holidays.
“I think my Greek heritage was a big part of my identity while growing up. I was completely like, yeah, I am Greek that’s exactly who I am,” she said.
Her parents read illustrated books of Greek myths to her every night, featuring Icarus, Persephone, Narcissus and others. Ancient Greek literature gradually became a part of her identity.
“Those stories always felt close to me, because as a kid I felt Greek and that these were the stories of my ancestors. I even used to want to get a tattoo of one of the illustrations of the Greek myths, because they were so beautiful. I don’t know if I would have fallen as much in love with them, if I didn’t have Greek heritage, because I felt like they were a part of my history.”
Studying archaeology and the birth of “fig tree”
Growing up surrounded by Greek mythology books and ancient Greek literature, combined with her love for being outside and working with the earth, urged Katerina to study archaeology.
“I thought archaeology was a nice mix of all the things that I really enjoyed and it turned out that I loved it! As I continued to study, I found out that the stories of ancient literature were always exciting to me, I would never get tired of them.”
A few years later Katerina applied for the master’s degree, “Aegean Bronze Age Archaeology” in Athens, where she is now living and studying. However, her passion for archaeology went beyond that as she created her own YouTube channel, “fig tree.”
“When I was at university studying archaeology, I was thinking about it all the time, but there’s only so much that you can bore your friends and family with talking about archaeology over and over again. So, I just sat down in my room to myself and would talk about it for hours on end. There was one time I did a presentation in school that I was really proud of, and I filmed it and then I don’t know what compelled me, but for some reason I put it on YouTube afterwards.”
Katerina has built an audience of over 250,000 people on social media, where she is analysing a wide range of archaeological themes such as the class and femininity in ancient Greece and stories of queer people in antiquity.
“I was writing all of these essays for my university and for my exams and I thought these can have another life somewhere. So, I kept posting videos on YouTube before anyone was really watching. It was last year that my channel started to get a lot of people watching it, but before that I’d been doing it for maybe three years. Knowing that my videos are going out to an audience and not necessarily just to me in my room talking to myself, is nice and makes me want to make them better quality and heighten the production and make them more valuable for people.”
Her decision to name the channel “fig tree” was influenced by the presence of figs in Greek mythology as a feasting food, as well as their enduring connection to Greece.
“I got the fig tattoo when I was 18. I had this illustrated book about the Iliad, and it had all these beautiful drawings of figs. I’ve always thought that figs were quite tied to mythology, and that they feel kind of magical. I really dreamed about going to Greece and sitting under a fig tree and plucking a fig from the tree and that just reminded me of my heritage.”
“Fig tree” following Odysseus’ journey from Troy to Ithaca
Katerina has been making films since she was 12 years old and she has always wanted to make bigger projects. She applied for Screen Australia Skip Ahead, wanting to do something related to archaeology, history and ancient literature.
“I am being funded now to make a documentary called “Tracing Odysseus”, which is about the Odyssey and the journey of Odysseus.”
Katerina as “fig tree” will go through the physical journey of Odysseus. The documentary will start from Ithaca and follow the footsteps that Odysseus took. It aims to convey as much of the original text and feeling of the story to people as possible. “Fig tree” will visit all these ancient sites and will discuss with the audience about the Odyssey and the literature. The three-part series will start filming in 2027, it will feature 45 minute episodes and will be released on Katerina’s fig tree Youtube channel.
“I really enjoy the medium of talking to the audience kind of directly. There are so many people watching now, and I really feel like I owe it to make it as interesting to them as possible. I will be following Odysseus’ footsteps and retelling the story as we go along. It’s a little bit of a “fig tree journey” as well as Odysseus’s journey.”
The filming journey with her father
Katerina has collaborated with her father on various short films, where in some he has worked as a producer as well.
“I love working with him so much. I think we make a really good team. We’re very similar people.”
Alex Alexander, Katerina’s father, who has worked as a screen producer for 20 years, will be the producer of the documentary “Tracing Odysseus” during which they will bring to life Odysseus’ adventure and explore together their cultural background across Greece.
“I’m really excited to be doing this with him because it’s kind of a way for both of us to go through this together and navigate our heritage and culture.”
The art of coming home
Stories like the Odyssey continue to resonate with people thousands of years later, as they relate to their characters and meanings.
“The oldest story that I’ve ever read was the Epic of Gilgamesh and I was shocked when I read that people still act the exact same way. If you read the Odyssey, you expect these people to be so far away from you and from what you think, but then you read it and you realize that it’s so incredibly close. I think that makes people excited, because they feel that their life is something grander, something that forms part of this big cycle of humanity that has always existed.”
Katerina is touched by the Odyssey, because it is an epic about homecoming and reconnecting with your roots and heritage, which is why she has a personal truth in it. By filming this documentary and bringing Homer’s epic to life she will experience her own journey of rediscovering where she comes from.
“The Odyssey is a story about coming home or trying to get home, something that I really love and one of the reasons that I want to tell the story. It’s kind of poetic for me in a way, because I feel like by coming to Greece and studying my master’s and studying Homer, I’ve kind of made it home in a way.”
