He calls himself the “poet of the sidewalk” or “band-aid surgeon”. Street artist Ememem turns cracks and holes in sidewalks, squares and walls into art. He puts small stones in the gaps. None of its colourful, magnificent mosaics looks like the other.
He has already realized more than 400 of them in different countries. Most of the mosaics can be found in France, especially in Lyon. But passers-by also encounter them in Scotland, Norway, Italy, Spain, in Guadeloupe in the Caribbean and in Flohä in Saxony. What is his favorite piece? “He always says it’s the next thing to come,” replies when asked star a member of his team.
The street artist started his mosaics in Lyon
Ememem himself keeps a low profile as a person, like many other street artists, he too remains anonymous. He calls what he does “flaking” based on the French word for puddle “flaque”. Where water used to collect in holes, mosaics now shine. The tourism board of Lyon, Ememem’s hometown, has even produced a ‘flickering’ map showing the locations of the mosaics. Two galleries in Paris are now also showing his works. The street artist has more than 130,000 followers on Instagram.
The first mosaic was created in Lyon more than ten years ago. By this time, Ememem was already working with ceramics and now took his craft outside. It’s a continuation of considerations and experiments he’s done before, Ememem told Colossal last year, a portal for contemporary art. When the idea of the mosaics came up, he knew: “I found something that I would do for the rest of my life.”
Sources: “colossal”, “ememem flickering”, Instagram