Ememem

Not to be confused with Eminem.

"Flacking" redirects here. For the well stimulation technique, see Fracking.

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.

Ememem
A mosaic by Ememem
Nationality	French
Known for	Mosaics
Style	Street art

Art

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 [fr] to decorate the location of a new Grand Paris Express stop.^[2]

Mosaic by Ememem in Lyon

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]

Personal life

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]

See also

• Jim Bachor

Notes

1. Ememem's identity is unknown, and the artist has refused to share information such as age and gender.^[1] This article therefore uses they/them pronouns for the artist.