Ephemera

Ephemera: a family of insects with a distinctive life cycle characterized by a prolonged larval stage and an adult life span ranging from a few hours to a few days. Their sole purpose is reproduction before they die. In archives and social studies, ephemera provide insight into social movements and historical events at a given moment. They offer a window into the attitudes, public discourse, and social customs of their time. In the ill-fated year of 2020, while cultural venues were shut down—deemed “non-essential”—I wandered the streets in search of life and adrenaline, trying to fill the void that swallowed everything during the Covid era. I needed to find a way to breathe through my FFP2 muzzle, to pump some oxygen back into my supposedly “available brain.” Armed with paint pots, a brush, and a few spray cans, I stepped out to trace these insolent biomorphic shapes, ripped straight from the gut. This slightly fetishistic urge to stroke the metal slat became my excuse to pay tribute to works—past, present, and future—that feed my ravenous imagination. Science fiction doesn’t predict the future; it warns us. And it’s in the margins that the fault lines of tomorrow are drawn. These interventions are mood swings turned into graphics—a kind of urban poetry of creative resistance, operating completely outside any pre-established frame.

France, Paris
Published: 2026
Language: French
Instagram: @freakfleuj
Website: https://www.lafleuj.com/ephemera/