Ememem | |
---|---|
Nationality | French |
Known for | Mosaics |
Style | Street art |
Ememem is an anonymous French street artist based in Lyon. They[a] create mosaics incorporating geometric motifs in cracked sidewalks and façades, a process they call flacking. Ememem creates art at night, so that it is generally discovered at dawn.
A street artist,[2] Ememem creates mosaics incorporating geometric motifs in cracked sidewalks and façades. They describe this art as "a poem that everybody can read" and "a memory notebook of the city".[3] They created their first mosaic in 2011 in an alley in their hometown of Lyon, although they had already been working with ceramic; since 2016, they have created street mosaics across France,[3] and as of September 2021[update] also in Barcelona (including in the Plaça Urquinaona and Sant Antoni[4]) and Madrid[2] as well as Turín, Genova, Civitacampomarano, and Terracina in Italy, Oslo, Hamar and Stavanger in Norway, Melbourne,[4] Aberdeen in UK and Carlow in Ireland.[5]
Their mosaics can easily be found in Lyon, and some visitors to the city seek them out.[6] In 2021, Ememem was commissioned by the Société du Grand Paris to decorate the location of a new Grand Paris Express stop.[2]
In addition to their street art, they have created additional commissions for exhibitions, some of which have been purchased by art collectors.[1]
Ememem describes their art as flacking, a self-coined[7] neologism derived from the French flaque, meaning "puddle" or "pool".[5] They have cited Célébration du sol by Jean Dubuffet as an influence.[8]
Ememem is French[4] and lives in Lyon, where they are known as le chirurgien des trottoirs, "the pavement surgeon"[3] or "the surgeon of the sidewalks".[6] They told Ynet that the name "Ememem" refers to the sound of their moped, which they ride when they go to create a mosaic.[9] They work at night to remain anonymous, and their identity is unknown; their work is generally found at dawn.[2] They have refused requests for in-person or radio interviews, and declined to state their age or gender.[1] They share images of their work on Instagram with the account "@ememem.flacking",[7] which had more than 169,000 followers as of May 28, 2023[update].[9]