ANKARA (AFP) – Walking through Ankara’s streets, occasional flashes of colour light up the pavement where French artist Ememem has painstakingly patched up the potholes and cracks with vibrant works of mosaic art.

He calls it “flacking” – the art of transforming unsightly cracks and crevices in the ground into uniquely shaped ceramic creations.

The artworks – made of recycled materials, bits of glass and broken or discarded shards of pottery – are what he calls his “plasters for the pavement”.

What inspired him was “the spirit of the city”, although to the uninitiated, Ankara can sometimes appear “grey”, Ememem said he saw it as full of “colour, light and traditional motifs”.

At times accompanied by texts, these eye-catching “street scars” are a reflection of his impressions and even some of the Turkish expressions he’s heard on the streets.

THE STREETS BELONG TO EVERYONE

His works first appeared on the streets of Lyon, hometown of the artist who has never revealed his name or his face.

They then began appearing in Paris and other cities, like Milan, Barcelona and Leipzig and more recently Chicago and New York. He also created a piece for the Athletes’ Village in Paris during the 2024 Olympics.

What he likes best are the works he does “clandestinely” at night.

“We don’t ask for permission, we just do it because as far as I’m concerned, the streets belong to everyone and to me as well,” he said.

Memories of his grandfather sweeping the front garden then the street outside, because he considered it to be his, was what inspired him to become a street artist.

“Oddly enough, when something belongs to everyone, you think that it doesn’t belong to you. I want to show that the streets, the town and society belongs to all of us, that we are all actors in our own cities,” he said.

His works are “artistic, poetic and above all political”, he said, while admitting his messages are subtle.

-- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin