Ememem: The artist who combines beauty and practicality on the streets of Lyon
Posted On
(Credits: Far Out / Ememem)
The French answer to Banksy goes by the intriguing mononym Ememem. The innovative street artist, whose name seems to parody that of American rapper Eminem, is also an undercover operator, tracing shadows in the streets at night to carry out artistic triumphs that inspire pedestrians the following morning as they traipse to work. Rather than using a can of spray paint, Ememem specialises in mosaics.
Many who stumble upon or nurture a proclivity for mosaics will venture into interior design. If you are lucky and talented enough, you might be commissioned to decorate a public space or produce a tiled art piece for an affluent customer. The latter scenario is fine work if you can get it, but nowadays, being recognised as an artist in one’s medium and using it to put bread on the table is becoming increasingly difficult.
As the British graffiti artist Banksy discovered in the early 1990s, when he formed the free-hand troupe DryBreadZ Crew (DBZ) in Bristol, it can sometimes be worth cutting out the middle man. Banksy’s early work was illegal, hence the anonymity. However, his politically pertinent street art became legendary over time, enhanced by his faceless operation. While some graffiti artists find themselves in cuffs and watch on as their tags are scrubbed from the wall, Banksy’s are protected by the UK government, sell for millions and become cultural landmarks.
Banksy wasn’t the first artist to prosper through free self-promotion in the urban bustle. The late American artist Keith Haring, for one, famously began his career as a graffiti artist in New York City. The crucial differences that made Banksy stand out from the crowd were his anonymity and his inspired sociopolitical themes. While France has plenty of political issues worthy of comment, Ememem targets just one issue: highway maintenance.
Have you ever walked through your neighbourhood and felt that surge of hot blood reach your face as you trip on a loose, cracked or missing paving slab? If so, Ememem might just be your superhero. This anonymous vigilante won’t spin webs or capture assailants, but he will use the art of mosaics to patch up the street, brighten the city and point a finger at negligent council staff.
Speaking of his innovative use of mosaics in 2021, Ememem called his unique trade “flacking”. The word is a play on the French word flaque, which means puddle or patch. Where Father Time inflicts his troublesome scars on the city streets and pavements, leaving puddles and tripping hazards, Ememem makes the necessary repairs with ceramics, wood or bitumen. “I’m just a sidewalk poet, a son of bitumen,” he said. “My work is the story of the city, where cobblestones have been displaced; a truck from the vegetable market tore off a piece of asphalt. Each becomes a flack.”
Unlike graffiti, which can be an eyesore, Ememem’s work instantly gained unanimous popularity. After his first few flacks on the streets of his hometown of Lyon, the city’s authorities commissioned him to work on several official art pieces in areas of urban neglect. Ememem’s work now crops up far beyond the Lyon city limits, with flacks reported in Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, and Milan. With a whole world of weather-beaten streets out there, his mission is far from complete.
Related Topics
