Focus on Artist: Ememem Flacking

Woman or man ? Alone or collective? Difficult to know who is hiding behind the pseudonym Ememem . “Ememem is a well-rounded, benevolent character. Without its own identity,” the artist describes himself. His pseudonym was inspired by the sound of his motorbike which he gets on every night out to go and “flak” a piece of sidewalk in Lyon . “I like this repetition of syllables, it creates a rhythm and a music”, explains in writing to 20 minutes this artist who, for the sake of anonymity, refuses to meet journalists.

Ememem practices flacking, derived from the word “puddle”, this street art which consists of repairing and beautifying each crack, crevice or element of damaged asphalt. “In short, I fill in the holes,” he sums up.

Originally from Dole, in the Jura, he was initially interested in painting and mosaics until the day he decided to renovate the entrance to his workplace. The artist then lived in Lyon. “I patched up and colored a few cracks but stopped there. It was while falling in a frozen puddle years later that the idea came back to me and the first flacking was born on February 1, 2016."

“I create “ anomalies ” where I find wounds. » He enjoys spreading these anomalies all over the streets of Lyon. From Vaise to La Part-Dieu via Croix-Rousse or Perrache. “Lyon is my field of experience. » But it does not stop at the borders of the capital of Gaul. Ememem has already left his mark on Paris , and in Italy, in Turin or Milan.

In March, Ememem brought his street art to the Gutenberg Tavern , where his work was exhibited. “I tried to bring my urban universe to a slightly more institutional place and it was fun to try to bring the universes together. » The opportunity for the artist to bring together and show the public, in the same place, his creations, something impossible in the street.

This experience gave him new ideas for future exhibitions. After participating in festivals in Terracina in Italy and in Sète, Ememem will continue to roam the streets armed with his trowel. “I am preparing other displays for Sweden in September, then at Paris Saclay University and again Italy in November.” And for summer? “I don’t know yet or what!” », replies the artist who imagines “an improvised summer flacking tour”.