EMEMEM, THE HEALER OF THE CITY WAS IN ANKARA

Last July, world-renowned anonymous urban artist Ememem came to Ankara at the invitation of the French Cultural Center in collaboration with the Cankaya Municipality and created a total of five mosaic installations around Kugulu Park.

Ememem, who first explored the streets of Ankara and measured the suggested cracks, say, "I discovered Ankara like reading an old wall: layer by layer. What interested me were the cracks, the small neglects, the hidden wounds. I walked, listened to the sidewalks, got lost for a while. And when the city allowed me, I placed my stories within its own." Ememem worked in their assigned studio and assembled their works at night. Throughout this period, the French Cultural Center, where their studio was located, was flooded with art lovers and students from fine arts faculties. At specific times each day, the artist demonstrated their technique to the guests and exchanged ideas with local artists.

Ememem is the pseudonym of the anonymous artist known since 2016 for their urban art, "The Art of Healing Cracks."  They call their works "flacks," derived from the French word "flaque" (puddle). Their simple material technique has been adopted by other artists around the world, and the term flacking has come to describe this branch of street art that works to repair sidewalks.

Since 2016, Ememem have created a collection of 400 sidewalk dressings, quickly becoming a phenomenon that have garnered significant attention in the international press and social media. Ememem, which began their activities in Lyon in 2016, have since expanded to Paris, Amiens, Sète, Turin, Milan, Barcelona, ​​Madrid, Stavanger and Hamar (Norway), Aberdeen (Scotland), Carlow (Ireland), Leipzig (Germany), and, most recently, to Chicago and New York City since 2024, taking to the streets and contemporary art fairs.