Dame Tracey Karima Emin (; born 3 July 1963) is an English artist known for autobiographical and confessional artwork. She produces work in a variety of media including

drawing Drawing is a Visual arts, visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface, or a digital representation of such. Traditionally, the instruments used to make a drawing include pencils, crayons, and ink pens, some ...

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

, neon text and sewn

appliqué Appliqué is ornamental needlework in which pieces or patches of fabric in different shapes and patterns are sewn or stuck onto a larger piece to form a picture or pattern. It is commonly used as decoration, especially on garments. The technique ...

. Once the " enfant terrible" of the

Young British Artists The Young British Artists, or YBAs—also referred to as Brit artists and Britart—is a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London in 1988. Many of the YBA artists graduated from the BA Fine Art course at Golds ...

in the 1980s, Tracey Emin is now a

Royal Academician The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

. In 1997, her work ''

Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995 ''Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995'' (1995), also known as ''The Tent'',Brown, p.83. was an artwork by Tracey Emin. The work was a tent with the appliquéd names of, literally, everyone she had ever slept with (not necessarily had s ...

'', a tent appliquéd with the names of everyone the artist had ever slept with, was shown at

Charles Saatchi Charles Saatchi ( ; ; born 9 June 1943) is an Iraqi-British businessman and the co-founder, with his brother Maurice, of advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi. The brothers led the business – the world's largest advertising agency in the 19 ...

's ''

Sensation Sensation (psychology) refers to the processing of the senses by the sensory system. Sensation or sensations may also refer to: In arts and entertainment In literature *Sensation (fiction), a fiction writing mode *Sensation novel, a British ...

'' exhibition held at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

in London. In the same year, she gained considerable media exposure when she swore repeatedly when drunk on a live British TV discussion programme called ''The Death of Painting''.(18 March 2005)
Tracey Emin – Artist
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (website). Retrieved 15 April 2020. In 1999, Emin had her first solo exhibition in the United States at Lehmann Maupin Gallery, entitled ''Every Part of Me's Bleeding''. Later that year, she was a

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award). ...

nominee and exhibited '' My Bed'' – a readymade installation, consisting of her own unmade dirty bed, in which she had spent several weeks drinking, smoking, eating, sleeping and having sexual intercourse while undergoing a period of severe emotional flux. The artwork featured used condoms and blood-stained underwear. Emin is also a panellist and speaker: she has lectured at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

in London, the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney (2010), the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

(2008), and the

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in En ...

in London (2005) about the links between creativity and autobiography, and the role of subjectivity and personal histories in constructing art. In December 2011, she was appointed Professor of Drawing at the Royal Academy; with Fiona Rae, she is one of the first two female professors since the Academy was founded in 1768. Emin lived in

Spitalfields Spitalfields () is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in East London and situated in the East End of London, East End. Spitalfields is formed around Commercial Street, London, Commercial Stre ...

, East London, before returning to

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Thanet District of Kent, England. It is located on the north coast of Kent and covers an area of long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and W ...

, where she funds the ''TKE Studios'' with workspace for aspiring artists.

Biography

Early life and education

Emin was born in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

, a district of

south London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...

, to an English mother of

Romanichal The Romanichal ( ; more commonly known as English Gypsies) are a Romani people, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom. Many Romanichal speak Angloromani, a mixed language that blends Romani language, Romani vocabulary with English syntax. Roma ...

descent and a

Turkish Cypriot Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( or ; ) are so called ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Turkish Cypriots are mainly Sunni Muslims. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,000 Turkish settlers were given land onc ...

father. She was brought up in

, Kent, with her twin brother, Paul. Emin shares a paternal great-grandfather with her second cousin

Meral Hussein-Ece, Baroness Hussein-Ece Meral Hussein Ece, Baroness Hussein-Ece, ( ; born 10 October 1955) is a British Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords. She is the first woman of Turkish Cypriot origin to be a member of either house of Parliament after she was appointe ...

. Her work has been analysed within the context of early adolescent and childhood abuse, as well as sexual assault. Emin was raped at the age of 13 while living in Margate, citing assaults in the area as "what happened to a lot of girls." Emin later said in an article she wrote for the ''Evening Standard'' that she had "no memory of being a virgin", citing numerous times she was raped as a young teenager. She studied fashion at Medway College of Design (now part of the

University for the Creative Arts The University for the Creative Arts is a specialist art and design university in Southern England. It was formed in 2005 as University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester when the Kent Institu ...

) (1980–82). There she met expelled student

Billy Childish Billy Childish (born Steven John Hamper; 1 December 1959) is an English painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer, and guitarist. Since the late 1970s, Childish has been prolific in creating music, writing, and visual art. He has ...

and was associated with The Medway Poets. Emin and Childish were a couple until 1987, during which time she was the administrator for his small press, Hangman Books, which published Childish's confessional poetry. From 1983–86 she studied printmaking at Maidstone Art College (now part of the

). She graduated with a first class degree in Printmaking. Also, whilst at Maidstone college of Art, Tracey Emin encountered Roberto Navickas aka Roberto Navikas, a name which was later to feature prominently in her "tent". Emin however, mistakenly misspelled his name by dropping a C. Navickas used this error to promote two artworks of his own, some twenty odd years later when re-entering the art world. The works were titled "The Lost C of Emin: The Discovery" & "The Lost C of Emin: A Reliquary". (see tent below). In 1995, she was interviewed in the ''Minky Manky'' show catalogue by Carl Freedman, who asked her, "Which person do you think has had the greatest influence on your life?" She replied, "Uhmm... It's not a person really. It was more a time, going to

Maidstone College of Art The Kent Institute of Art & Design (KIAD, often ) was an art school based across three campuses in the county of Kent, in the United Kingdom. It was formed by the amalgamation of three independent colleges: Canterbury College of Art, Maidstone Co ...

, hanging around with Billy Childish, living by the

River Medway The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, West Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...

". In 1987, Emin moved to London to study at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

, where in 1989 she obtained an MA in painting. After graduation, she had two traumatic

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

s and those experiences led her to destroy all the art she had produced in graduate school and later described the period as "emotional suicide". Her influences included

Edvard Munch Edvard Munch ( ; ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His 1893 work ''The Scream'' has become one of Western art's most acclaimed images. His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the dread of inher ...

and

Egon Schiele Egon Leo Adolf Ludwig Schiele (; 12 June 1890 – 31 October 1918) was an Austrian Expressionist painters, painter. His work is noted for its intensity and its raw sexuality, and for the many self-portraits the artist produced, including nude sel ...

, and for a time she studied philosophy at

Birkbeck, University of London Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a Public university, public research university located in London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the University of London. Establ ...

. One of the paintings that survives from her time at Royal College of Art is ''Friendship'', which is in the Royal College of Art Collection. Additionally, a series of photographs from her early work that was not destroyed was displayed as part of
My Major Retrospective
'.

Career beginnings

In 1993, Emin opened a shop with fellow artist Sarah Lucas, called ''The Shop'' at 103 Bethnal Green Road in

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common la ...

, which sold works by the two of them, including

T-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt, or tee for short) is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a '' crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shir ...

s and ashtrays with

Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist and art collector. He was one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingdom's richest ...

's picture stuck to the bottom. In November 1993, Emin had her first solo show at

White Cube White Cube is a contemporary art gallery founded by Jay Jopling in London in 1993. The gallery has two branches in London: White Cube Mason's Yard in central London and White Cube Bermondsey in South East London; White Cube Hong Kong, in Centra ...

, a contemporary art gallery in London. It was called ''My Major Retrospective'', and was autobiographical, consisting of personal photographs, photos of her (destroyed) early paintings, as well as items which most artists would not consider showing in public (such as a packet of cigarettes her uncle was holding when he was decapitated in a car crash). In the mid-1990s, Emin had a relationship with Carl Freedman, who had been an early friend of, and collaborator with,

, and who had co-curated seminal

Britart The Young British Artists, or YBAs—also referred to as Brit artists and Britart—is a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London in 1988. Many of the YBA artists graduated from the BA Fine Art course at Goldsm ...

shows, such as ''Modern Medicine'' and ''Gambler''. In 1994, they toured the US together, driving in a

Cadillac Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac (), is the luxury vehicle division (business), division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China; Cadillac models are ...

from

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

to New York, and making stops en route where she gave readings from her autobiographical book ''Exploration of the Soul'' to finance the trip. The couple spent time by the sea in

Whitstable Whitstable () is a town on the north coast of Kent, England, at the convergence of the The Swale, Swale and the Greater Thames Estuary, north of Canterbury and west of Herne Bay, Kent, Herne Bay. The town, formerly known as Whitstable-on-Se ...

together, using a

beach hut A beach hut (also known as a beach cabin, beach box or bathing box) is a small, usually wooden and often brightly coloured, box above the high tide mark on popular bathing beaches. They are generally used as a shelter from the sun or wind, c ...

that she uprooted and turned into art in 1999 with the title ''The Last Thing I Said to You is Don't Leave Me Here'', and that was destroyed in the 2004 Momart warehouse fire. In 1995, Freedman curated the show ''Minky Manky'' at the South London Gallery. Emin has said, The result was her "tent" ''

'', which was first exhibited in the show. It was a blue tent, appliquéd with the names of everyone she has slept with. These included sexual partners, plus relatives she slept with as a child, her twin brother, and her two aborted children. The needlework which is integral to this work was used by Emin in a number of her other pieces. This piece was later bought by

and included in the successful 1997

Sensation exhibition ''Sensation'' was an exhibition of the collection of contemporary art owned by Charles Saatchi, including many works by Young British Artists (YBAs), which first took place 18 September – 28 December 1997 at the Royal Academy of Arts in Londo ...

at the Royal Academy; it then toured to Berlin and New York. It, too, was destroyed by the fire in Saatchi's east London warehouse, in 2004.

Public recognition

Emin was largely unknown by the public until she appeared on a

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

television programme in 1997,
"Is Painting Dead?"
'. The show comprised a group discussion about that year's

and was broadcast live. Emin said she was drunk, slurred and swore before walking out. From the interview: "Are they really real people in England watching this programme now, they really watching, really watching it?" Two years later, in 1999, Emin was shortlisted for the Turner Prize herself and exhibited '' My Bed'' at the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

. There was considerable media attention regarding the apparently trivial and possibly unhygienic elements of the installation, such as yellow stains on the bedsheets, condoms, empty cigarette packets, and a pair of knickers with menstrual stains. The bed was presented as it had been when she had stayed in it for several days, feeling suicidal because of relationship difficulties. Two performance artists, Yuan Chai and Jian Jun Xi, jumped onto the bed with bare torsos to "improve" the work, which they thought had not gone far enough.Kim Min Su and Stephen Mallinder (1 February 2010
Tracey Emin media coverage vs. Cabaret Voltaire's ''Kino''
, ''Art Design Publicity''. Retrieved 13 February 2010. In July 1999, at the height of Emin's

fame, she created a number of monoprints drawings inspired by the public and private life of

Princess Diana Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William ...

for a themed exhibition called ''Temple of Diana'' held at The Blue Gallery, London. Works such as ''They Wanted You To Be Destroyed'' (1999) related to Princess Diana's

bulimia Bulimia nervosa, also known simply as bulimia, is an eating disorder characterized by binge eating (eating large quantities of food in a short period of time, often feeling out of control) followed by compensatory behaviors, such as self-induc ...

, while other monoprints included affectionate texts such as ''Love Was on Your Side'' and a description of Princess Diana's ''dress with puffy sleeves''. Other drawings highlighted ''The things you did to help other people'' written next to a drawing by Emin of

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William, ...

in protective clothing walking through a minefield in Angola. Another work was a delicate sketch of a rose drawn next to the phrase "It makes perfect sence to know they killed you" (with Emin's trademark spelling mistakes) referring to the conspiracy theories surrounding Princess Diana's death. Emin herself described the drawings, saying they "could be considered quite scrappy, fresh, kind of naïve looking drawings" and "It's pretty difficult for me to do drawings not about me and about someone else. But I have did have a lot of ideas. They're quite sentimental I think and there's nothing cynical about it whatsoever." Tracey Emin 104 0035

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

collects Emin's work, as did

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

. Michael and his partner Kenny Goss held the ''A Tribute To Tracey Emin'' exhibition in September 2007 at their Dallas-based museum, the Goss-Michael Foundation (formerly Goss Gallery)."Tracey Emin says her work is feminine, not feminist"
, ''Dallas Morning News''. Retrieved 10 May 2016. This was the inaugural exhibition for the gallery which displayed a variety of Emin works from a large blanket, video installations, prints, paintings and a number of neon works including a special neon piece ''George Loves Kenny'' (2007) which was the centrepiece of the exhibition, developed by Emin after she wrote an article for ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' newspaper in February 2007 with the same title. Goss and Michael (died 25 December 2016), acquired 25 works by Emin. Other celebrities and musicians who support Emin's art include models Jerry Hall and

Naomi Campbell Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is a British supermodel. Beginning her career at the age of eight, Campbell was one of six models of her generation declared supermodels by the fashion industry and the international press. She was th ...

, film star

Orlando Bloom Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Copeland Bloom (born 13 January 1977) is an English actor. He made his breakthrough as the character Legolas in The Lord of the Rings (film series), ''The Lord of the Rings'' film series (2001–03). He reprised his r ...

who bought a number of Emin's works at charity auctions and pop band Temposhark, whose lead singer collects Emin's art, named their debut album '' The Invisible Line'', inspired by passages from Emin's book ''Exploration of The Soul''. Rock legend

Ronnie Wood Ronald David Wood (born 1 June 1947) is an English rock musician, best known as a member of the Rolling Stones since 1975, and a member of Faces and the Jeff Beck Group. Wood began his career in 1964, playing lead guitar with several Brit ...

of the

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

is a well documented friend of Emin, whose own paintings are inspired by Emin's work. In 2004 Emin presented

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

with the ''UK Music Hall of Fame'' award. Emin was invited to

's country estate Ashcombe and has been described by the singer, "Tracey is intelligent and wounded and not afraid to expose herself," she says. "She is provocative but she has something to say. I can relate to that."

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

, a childhood inspiration of Emin's, also became friends with the artist. Bowie once described Emin as "William Blake as a woman, written by

Mike Leigh Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is an English screenwriter, producer, director and former actor with a film, theatre, and television career spanning more than 60 years. His accolades include prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, the Berlin In ...

". Like the

and Kenny Goss neon, Emin created a unique neon work for her supermodel friend

Kate Moss Katherine Ann Moss (born 16 January 1974) is an English model. Arriving towards the end of the "supermodel era", Moss rose to fame in the early 1990s as part of the heroin chic fashion trend. Her collaborations with Calvin Klein brought her t ...

called ''Moss Kin''. In 2004, it was reported that this unique piece had been discovered dumped in a skip in east London. The piece, consisting of neon tubing spelling the words ''Moss Kin'', had been mistakenly thrown out of a basement, owned by the craftsman who made the glass. The artwork was never collected by Moss and had therefore been stored for three years in the basement of a specialist artist used by Emin in the Spitalfields area. It was accidentally dumped when the craftsman moved. The term used in the work ''Kin'' is a recurring theme of Emin's to describe those dear to her, her loved ones. Other examples can be seen in a monoprint called ''MatKin'' dedicated to her then boyfriend artist

Mat Collishaw Matthew "Mat" Collishaw Royal Photographic Society#Distinctions and qualifications, Hon. FRPS (born 6 January 1966) is a contemporary British artist based in London. Work Collishaw's work uses photography and video. With an early foundati ...

and released as an aquatint limited edition in 1997. Emin created a nude drawing of

known as ''Kate'' (2000), signed and dated as ''1 February 2000'' in pencil by the artist. In 2006, the same image was released as a limited edition etching, but renamed as ''Kate Moss 2000'' (2006). Emin's work was included in the 2022 exhibition ''Women Painting Women'' at the

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (widely referred to as The Modern) is an art museum of post-World War II art in Fort Worth, Texas with a collection of international modern and contemporary art. Founded in 1892, The Modern is located in the c ...

Stuckism

Emin's relationship with the artist and musician

led to the name of the

Stuckism Stuckism () is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson (artist), Charles Thomson to promote Figurative art, figurative painting as opposed to conceptual art.Hangman Books 1994, from which

Charles Thomson Charles Thomson (November 29, 1729 – August 16, 1824) was an Irish-born Founding Father of the United States and secretary of the Continental Congress (1774–1789) throughout its existence. As secretary, Thomson prepared the Journals of the ...

, who knew them both, later coined the term Stuckism. Emin and Childish had remained on friendly terms up until 1999, but the activities of the Stuckist group offended her and caused a lasting rift with Childish. In a 2003 interview, she was asked about the Stuckists: Childish left the Stuckist movement in 2001.

Modern Art Oxford (2002–03)

From November 2002 to January 2003, Tracey Emin's solo exhibition ''This Is Another Place'' was held at

Modern Art Oxford Modern Art Oxford is an art gallery established in 1965 in Oxford, England. From 1965 to 2002, it was called The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford. The gallery presents exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. It has a national and international ...

and marked the museum's reopeningTracey Emin's This Is Another Place at Modern Art Oxford
, Scott Henderson, 11 November 2002. Culture24. Retrieved 17 December 2009. and renaming to

. The exhibition was Emin's first British exhibition since 1997. The exhibition contained drawings, etchings, film, neon works such as ''Fuck off and die, you slag'',Searle, Adrian
"Ouch"
, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 12 November 2002. Retrieved 3 February 2009. and sculptures including a large-scale wooden pier, called ''Knowing My Enemy'', with a wooden shack on top made from reclaimed timber. Emin commented that she decided to exhibit in Oxford as museum director Andrew Nairne had always been "a big supporter of my work". An exhibition catalogue included 50 illustrations: "a compilation of images and writings reflecting her life, her sexual experiences and her desires and fears."Emin, Tracey "This Is Another Place"
, Modern Art Oxford, 2002. Retrieved 3 February 2009.

Momart fire (2004)

On 24 May 2004, a fire in a Momart storage warehouse in East London destroyed many works from the Saatchi collection, including Emin's famous tent with appliquéd letters, ''

'' ("The Tent") (1995) and ''The Last Thing I Said To You Is Don't Leave Me Here'' ("The Hut") (1999), Emin's blue wooden beach hut that she bought with fellow artist Sarah Lucas and shared with her boyfriend of the time, the gallerist Carl Freedman. Emin spoke out angrily against what she perceived as a general public lack of sympathy, and even amusement, at the loss of the artworks in the fire. She commented, "I'm also upset about those people whose wedding got bombed last week n Iraq and people being dug out from under 400ft of mud in the Dominican Republic."

Venice Biennale (2007)

In August 2006, the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

announced that they had chosen Emin to produce a show of new and past works for the British Pavilion at the 52nd

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

in 2007. Emin was the second woman to produce a solo show for the UK at the Biennale, following

Rachel Whiteread Dame Rachel Whiteread (born 20 April 1963) is an English artist who primarily produces sculptures, which typically take the form of casts. She was the first woman to win the annual Turner Prize in 1993. Whiteread was one of the Young British ...

in 1997. Andrea Rose, the commissioner for the British Pavilion, stated that the exhibition would allow Emin's work to be viewed "in an international context and at a distance from the

YBA YBA or yba can refer to a number of things: * Young British Artists, a movement of British artists in the 1980s and 1990s * Yala language, a language spoken in Ogoja, Nigeria, by ISO 639 code * Young Buddhist Association, an association of Bud ...

generation with which she came to prominence.". Emin picked the title ''Borrowed Light'' for the exhibition. She produced new work especially for the British Pavilion, using a wide variety of media – from needlework, photography and video to drawing, painting, sculpture and neon. A promotional British Council flyer included an image of a previously unseen monoprint for the exhibition called ''Fat Minge'' (1994) that was included in the show, while the ''Telegraph'' newspaper featured a photo of a new purple neon ''Legs I'' (2007) that was on display (directly inspired by Emin's 2004 purple watercolour ''Purple Virgin'' series). Emin summed up her Biennale exhibition work as "Pretty and hard-core". Emin was interviewed about the Venice Biennale by the BBC's

Kirsty Wark Kirsteen Anne "Kirsty" Wark (born 3 February 1955) is a Scottish television presenter and journalist with a long career at the BBC. Starting on BBC Radio Scotland, where she became a producer, Wark switched to television, presenting ''The Late ...

in November 2006. Emin showed Wark some work-in-progress, which included large-scale canvases with paintings of Emin's legs and vagina. Starting with the ''Purple Virgin'' (2004) acrylic watercolour series with their strong purple brush strokes depicting Emin's naked open legs, leading to Emin's paintings in 2005-6 such as ''Asleep Alone With Legs Open'' (2005), the ''Reincarnation'' (2005) series and ''Masturbating'' (2006) amongst others, these works were a significant new development in her artistic output. Andrea Rose, the British Pavilion commissioner, added to this commenting on the art Emin has produced, "It's remarkably ladylike. There is no ladette work – no toilet with a poo in it – and actually it is very mature I think, quite lovely. She is much more interested in formal values than people might expect, and it shows in this exhibition. It's been revelatory working with her. Tracey's reputation for doing shows and hanging them is not good, but she's been a dream to work with. What it shows is that she's moved a long way away from the YBAs. She's quite a lady actually!"

Royal Academician (2007)

On 29 March 2007, Tracey Emin was made a Royal Academician by the Royal Academy of Arts. In becoming a member of the Royal Academy Emin joined an elite group of artists that includes

David Hockney David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English Painting, painter, Drawing, draughtsman, Printmaking, printmaker, Scenic design, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considere ...

, Peter Blake, Anthony Caro and Alison Wilding. Her Academician status entitles Emin to exhibit up to six works in the annual summer exhibition. Emin had previously been invited to include works at the R.A. Summer Exhibitions of 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004 and 2001. For 2004's Summer Exhibition, Emin was chosen by fellow artist David Hockney to submit two monoprints, one called ''And I'd Love To Be The One'' (1997) and another on the topic of Emin's abortion called ''Ripped Up'' (1995), as that year's theme celebrated the art of drawing as part of the creative process, while 2007 saw Emin exhibit a neon work called ''Angel'' (2005). Her art was first exhibited at the Royal Academy as part of the ''Sensation'' exhibition in 1997. For the June 2008 Summer Exhibition, Emin was invited to curate a gallery. Emin also gave a public talk in June 2008 interviewed by art critic and broadcaster

Matthew Collings Matthew Collings (born 1955) is a British art critic, writer, broadcaster, and artist. He is married to Emma Biggs, with whom he collaborates on art works. Education Born in London in 1955, Collings studied at Byam Shaw School of Art, and Golds ...

, contemplating her role within the Royal Academy, the Academy's relationship to the contemporary art world, and her perspective, as an artist, on hanging and curating a gallery in the Summer Exhibition.Tracey Emin RA in Conversation with Matthew Collings – Evening lectures – Exhibitions & events
, royalacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 10 May 2016. She exhibited her famous "Space Monkey – We Have Lift Off" print at the 2009 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.
, royalacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 10 May 2016.

''Twenty Years'' retrospective (2008)

The first major retrospective of Emin's work was held in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

between August and November 2008 attracting over 40,000 visitors, breaking the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art's record for an exhibition of work by a living artist. The large-scale exhibition included the full range of Emin's art from the rarely seen early work to the iconic ''My Bed'' (1998) and the room-sized installation ''Exorcism of the Last Painting I Ever Made'' (1996). The show displayed her unique appliquéd blankets, paintings, sculptures, films, neons, drawings and monoprints. The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art was the only UK venue for the show which then went to the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo in

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

, Spain and then to the Kunstmuseum in Bern, Switzerland from 2009. It was reported on 6 November 2008 that Emin gifted a major sculpture to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art as a "thank you" to both the gallery and the city of Edinburgh. The work called ''Roman Standard'' (2005) comprises a bronze pole, surmounted by a little bird, cast in bronze. The work has an estimated value of at least £75,000.

''Love Is What You Want'' retrospective (2011)

In May–August 2011, a major survey exhibition at London's

Hayward Gallery The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the Royal ...

consisted of work from all aspects of Emin's art practice, revealing facets of the artist and her work that are frequently overlooked. The exhibition included painting, drawing, photography, textiles, video and sculpture, with rarely before seen early works alongside more recent large-scale installations. Emin made a new series of outdoor sculptures especially for this solo show.

''The Vanishing Lake – Frieze Fair (2011)''

On 6 October 2011, Emin opened a site-specific exhibition at a Georgian house on

Fitzroy Square Fitzroy Square is a Georgian architecture, Georgian garden square, square in London, England. It is the only one in the central London area known as Fitzrovia. The square is one of the area's main features, this once led to the surrounding di ...

.Garnett, Natasha. "Reformed Bad-Girl Artist Tracey Emin." ''WSJ: The Magazine from the Wall Street Journal'' 03 2012 ProQuest. 3 March 2017 The title is taken from her novel which has served as a catalyst for a series of works, created for a neoclassical house designed by Robert Adam in 1794. The exhibition also featured a series of embroidered texts and hand-woven tapestries which continued Emin's interest in domestic and handcrafted traditions. Emin herself has said that, "I called it that because I saw part of myself as drying and not there anymore and I wanted to question the whole idea of love and passion, whether love exists anymore...Why? Because I'm nearly 50, I'm single, because I don't have children."

London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Emin was a mentor on the ''BA Great Britons Programme''. She also produced a poster and limited edition print for the

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Olympic and Paralympic Games, one of only 12 British artists selected. On 19 July 2012, Emin carried the Olympic torch through her hometown of Margate.

Joint exhibit with Edvard Munch

In December 2020, Emin had a gallery exhibition containing works by

, entitled ''The Loneliness of the Soul'', at the Royal Academy of Arts. Emin selected 19 pieces of Munch's work to be displayed alongside 25 pieces of her own. Simultaneously, she had a show at London's

gallery which included a short

Super-8 Super 8 mm film is a motion-picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement over the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format. The formal name for Super 8 is 8-mm Type S, distinguishing it from the ...

film in tribute to Munch. The exhibition was re-shown at the newly opened

Munch Museum Munch Museum (), marketed as Munch (stylised in all caps) since 2020, is an art museum in Bjørvika, Oslo, Norway dedicated to the life and works of the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. The museum was originally located at Tøyen, which was opene ...

in Oslo, with Emin being the first artist to show alongside the Norwegian painter. Works included recent paintings, as well as her seminal work '' My Bed''. Emin had suffered from cancer in the year before the exhibit, and was unsure whether she would be able to see it herself. The exhibition travelled to the

in London in 2021. Reviewing the exhibition for ''Londonist'', Tabish Khan said: “It captures that sense of loneliness I've struggled to put into words, and left me emotionally spent". It was also reviewed favourably in

with Tim Adams writing "This exhibition is not comprehensive enough to be billed as a retrospective, but even so, everything that Emin has made and felt and suffered in the past is brought to full expression in it".

''By The Time You See Me There Will Be Nothing Left'' (2024)

An exhibition of Emin's work produced post-cancer diagnosis ran from 24 May 2024 until 27 July. The show included ''You Keep Fucking Me'' and was held in the

Xavier Hufkens Xavier Hufkens Gallery is a contemporary art gallery founded by Belgian art dealer Xavier Hufkens (b. 1965). The gallery has three locations in Brussels and represents an international roster of some forty emerging, mid-career, and established art ...

gallery in Brussels. She told ''The Guardian'': "It's the best show I have ever done."

Artistic work

Monoprints

Emin's monoprints are a well-documented part of her creative output. These unique drawings have a diaristic aspect and frequently depict events from the past, for example, ''Poor Love'' (1999), ''From The Week of Hell '94'' (1995), and ''Ripped Up'' (1995), which relate to traumatic experiences; or other personal events as seen in ''Fuck You Eddy'' (1995) and ''Sad Shower in New York'' (1995), both of which are part of the Tate's collection of Emin's art. The monoprints often incorporate text as well as image, although some bear only text and others only image. The text appears as the artist's stream of consciousness voice. Some critics have compared Emin's text-only monoprints to ransom notes. The rapid, one-off technique involved in making monoprints is perfectly suited to (apparently) immediate expression, as is Emin's scratchy and informal drawing style. Emin frequently misspells words, deliberately or due to the speed at which she does each drawing. In a 2002 interview with

Lynn Barber Lynn Barber (born 22 May 1944) is a British journalist who has worked for many publications, including ''The Sunday Times''. Early life Barber was born in Bagshot and attended Lady Eleanor Holles School in southwest London. While she was stud ...

, Emin said: "It's not cute affectation. If I could spell, then I would spell correctly, but I never bothered to learn. So, rather than be inhibited and say I can't write because I can't spell, I just write and get on with it." Emin created a key series of monoprints in 1997 with the text ''Something's Wrong'' or ''There Must Be Something Terebley Wrong With Me'' written with spelling mistakes intact in large capital letters alongside "forlorn figures surrounded by space, their outlines fragile on the page. Some are complete bodies, others only female torsos, legs splayed and with odd, spidery flows gushing from their vaginas. They are all accompanied by the legend ''There's Something Wrong''." Other key monoprints include a series from 1994 and 1995 known as the ''Illustrations from Memory'' series which document Emin's childhood memories of sexual awakening and other experiences growing up in

such as ''Fucking Down An Ally 16/5/95'' (1995) and ''Illustrations from Memory, the year 1974. In The Livingroom'' (1994). Emin further produced a set of monoprints detailing her memories of

's iconic buildings such as ''Margate Harbour 16/5/95'' (1995), ''The Lido 16/5/95'' (1995), and ''Light House 15/5/95'' (1995). Other drawings from 1994 include the ''Family Suite'' series, part of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art collection, consisting of 20 monoprints with "archetypal themes in Emin's art: sex, her family, her abortions, and Margate". This series of monoprints was displayed for the first time from August 2008 at the Edinburgh gallery as part of her first major retrospective, which has been called the ''Summer Blockbuster'' exhibition. A further ''Family Suite II'' set was exhibited in Los Angeles in November 2007 as part of Emin's solo show at the Gagosian gallery.Gagosian Gallery – Exhibition – Tracey Emin
, gagosian.com. Retrieved 6 May 2016. Emin's monoprints are rarely displayed alone in exhibitions as they are particularly effective as collective fragments of intense emotional confrontation. Emin has made several works documenting painful moments of sadness and loneliness experienced when travelling to foreign cities for various exhibitions such as ''Thinking of You'' (2005) and ''Bath White I'' (2005) which were from a series of monoprints drawn directly onto the USA Mondrian hotel stationery. Emin has said, "Being an artist isn't just about making nice things, or people patting you on the back; it's some kind of communication, a message." In 2009, along with book publisher Rizzoli, released a book titled ''One Thousand Drawings''. As the title suggests, the book contains 1000 drawings from Emin's career since 1988. The book was released to coincide with Emin's show ''Those who suffer love'' at White Cube which was mainly a drawings show. Emin said in an interview that "We actually looked at about 2000 drawings and then chose 1000 drawings or the book.. I'd probably done, over that period of time about 4000 drawings". Monoprint drawings of mothers and children that Emin drew during a pregnancy in 1990 were included in a 2010 joint exhibition with

Paula Rego Dame Maria Paula Figueiroa Rego (: 26 January 1935 – 8 June 2022) was a Portuguese visual artist, widely considered the pre-eminent woman artist of the late 20th and early 21st century, known particularly for her paintings and prints based o ...

and

at the Foundling Museum. Rarely exhibited examples of monoprints gifted to friends and family of Emin form a niche but revealing body of work. These may show Emin's work in the most raw and uncensored from. Emin has gifted monoprints to individuals including her brother Paul Emin and the singer

Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and musician. He has sold more than 100 million records and has more than two billion st ...

(Yusuf Islam) with whom she shares Cypriot heritage.

Painting

Emin displayed six small watercolours in her

exhibition in 1999, and also in her New York show ''Every Part of Me's Bleeding'' held that same year, known as the ''Berlin Watercolour'' series (1998). These delicate, washed out but colourful watercolours include four portraits of Emin's face and were all painted by Emin in Berlin during 1998, adapted from Polaroids of the artist taking a bath.'Artist's abortion tape and unmade bed lead Turner Prize shortlist'
Each unique painting from this series share the same title, ''Berlin The Last Week in April 1998''. Simon Wilson, spokesperson for the Tate, commented that Emin included the set of tiny Berlin watercolours "as a riposte to the accusation that there are no paintings" in the Turner Prize exhibitions. The bath theme seen in these watercolours was later revisited by Emin in her photographic work ''Sometimes I Feel Beautiful'' (2000) and in monoprints such as the ''Bath White'' (2005) series. With all these works, Emin explores a

Mary Cassatt Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side (Pittsburgh), North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, whe ...

quality of the "woman in a private moment". Emin's focus on painting has developed over the past few years, starting with the ''Purple Virgin'' (2004) acrylic watercolour series of purple brush strokes depicting her naked open legs, and leading to paintings such as ''Asleep Alone With Legs Open'' (2005), the ''Reincarnation'' (2005) series and ''Masturbating'' (2006), among others. In May 2005, London's ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'' newspaper highlighted Emin's return to painting in their preview of her ''When I Think About Sex'' exhibition at White Cube. Other works were nude self-portrait drawings. Emin was quoted as saying, "For this show I wanted to show that I can really draw, and I think they are really sexy drawings." Work for her 2007 show at the

included large-scale canvases of her legs and vagina. A watercolour series called ''The Purple Virgins'' were displayed. There are ten ''Purple Virgin'' works in total, six of which were shown at the Biennale. These were accompanied by two canvases of a similar style called ''How I Think I Feel 1 and 2''. The Venice Biennale was also the first time Emin's ''Abortion Watercolour'' series, painted in 1990, had ever been shown in public. Jay Jopling presented a new Emin painting, ''Rose Virgin'' (2007), as part of White Cube's stand at the Frieze Art Fair in London's Regent's Park on 10 October 2007. More new paintings are expected to be shown in Emin's ''You Left Me Breathing'' exhibition in Los Angeles' Gagosian gallery from 2 November 2007, described in a recent interview as an 'exhibition of sculpture and painting'. A number of new paintings were on display including ''Get Ready for the Fuck of Your Life'' (2007). An article by the art critic Alastair Sooke, published in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', in October 2014, discussed Emin's change of direction from conceptual pieces to painting and sculpture. Sooke claimed that although Emin was appointed Professor of Drawing at the Royal Academy in 2011, she has been taking drawing lessons privately for some years in New York, and that she had also been taking sculpture lessons for at least three years. Neither Emin or Jay Jopling have commented on the article.

Photography

Emin has produced many photographic works throughout her career, including ''Monument Valley (Grand Scale)'' (1995–97) and ''Outside Myself (Monument Valley, reading "Exploration of the Soul")'' (1995) which resulted "from a trip Emin made to the United States in 1994. She and her then boyfriend, writer, curator and gallery owner Carl Freedman, drove from San Francisco to New York, stopping off along the way to give readings from her 1994 book, ''Exploration of the Soul''. The photograph shows the artist sitting in an upholstered chair in

Monument Valley Monument Valley (, , meaning "valley of the rocks") is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone buttes, with the largest reaching above the valley floor. The most famous butte formations are located in northeas ...

, a spectacular location on the southern border of Utah with northern Arizona, holding her book. Although it is open, it is not clear whether she is looking at the viewer or at the text in front of her. Emin gave her readings sitting in the chair, which she had inherited from her grandmother, which also became part of Emin's art, ''There's A Lot of Money in Chairs'' (1994).""Monument Valley"
, Tate.org.uk. Retrieved 25 November 2014. Other photographic works include a series of nine images comprising the work ''Naked Photos – Life Model Goes Mad'' (1996) documenting a painting performance Emin made in a room specially built in Galleri Andreas Brändström, Stockholm. Another photographic series, ''Trying on Clothes From My Friends (She Took The Shirt Off His Back)'' (1997), shows the artist trying on her friends' clothes offering up questions of identity. Other works such as ''I've Got It All'' (2000) show Emin with her "legs splayed on a red floor, clutching banknotes and coins to her crotch. Made at a time of public and financial success, the image connects the artist's desire for money and success and her sexual desire (her role as consumer) with her use of her body and her emotional life to produce her art (the object of consumption)", while ''Sometimes I Feel Beautiful'' (2000) pictures Emin lying alone in a bath. Both these works are examples of her using "large-scale photographs of herself to record and express moments of emotional significance in her life, frequently making reference to her career as an artist. The photographs have a staged quality, as though the artist is enacting a private ritual." Emin's two self-portraits taken inside her beach hut, ''The Last Thing I Said To You Is Don't Leave Me Here I'' (2000) and ''The Last Thing I Said To You Is Don't Leave Me Here II'' (2000) are a diptych although they are often exhibited and sold separately. They depict a naked Emin on her knees inside her beach hut which she and friend Sarah Lucas had bought in Whitstable, Kent in 1992. The hut itself later became the sculpture ''The Last Thing I Said To You Is Don't Leave Me Here (The Hut)'' (1999). They are part of museum collections including

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

, the Saatchi Gallery and the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

and have been mass produced as postcards sold in museum shops around the world.

Neon

Emin has also worked with neon lights. One such piece is ''You Forgot To Kiss My Soul'' (2001) which consists of those words in blue neon inside a neon heart-shape. Another neon piece is made from the words ''Is Anal Sex Legal'' (1998). to complement another ''Is Legal Sex Anal'' (1998) For the Venice Biennale, she produced a series of new purple neon works, for example, ''Legs I'' (2007). This 2007 series of ''Legs'' neon works were directly inspired by the ''Purple Virgin'' (2004) watercolour series. For example, ''Legs IV'' (2007) directly follows the watercolour lines of the ''Purple Virgin 9'' (2004). For a joint 2010 exhibition with Paula Rego and Mat Collishaw, she decorated the front of the Foundling Museum with the neon words "Foundlings and fledglings are angels of this earth". Emin has donated neon work to auction for charity and in 2007, her neon ''Keep Me Safe'' reached the highest price ever made for one of her neon works of over £60,000. A brand new neon piece called ''With You I Want To Live'' was shown as part of Emin's ''You Left Me Breathing'' exhibition in 2007 at the Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles. In 2018, Emin's largest neon work was displayed at London St Pancras Station, the work called ''I Want My Time With You'' hangs below the large central clock in the station. In an interview with ''

'', Emin stated that the work was a message to the rest of europe during the

Brexit Crisis After the British EU membership referendum held on 23 June 2016, in which a majority voted to leave the European Union, the United Kingdom experienced political and economic upsets, with spillover effects across the rest of the European Union ...

. Passengers disembarking Eurostar trains from Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam arrive at the station every day underneath the work.

Fabric

Emin frequently works with fabric in the form of appliqués – material (often cut out into lettering) sewn onto other material. She collects fabric from curtains, bed sheets and linen and has done so for most of her life. She keeps such material that holds emotional significance for later use in her work. Many of her large-scale appliqués are made on hotel linens, for example, ''It Always Hurts'' (2005), ''Sometimes I Feel So Fucking Lost'' (2005), ''Volcano Closed'' (2001) and ''Helter Fucking Skelter'' (2001). ''Hate And Power Can Be A Terrible Thing'' (2004), part of the Tate's collection of Emin's work, is a large-scale blanket inspired in part by

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

due to her involvement in "an attack on 800 boys and men in the Argentinian navy" and other women for example women who steals their friends' boyfriends, Emin says of this work "about the kind of women I hate, the kind of women I have no respect for, women who betray and destroy the hearts of other women". Emin's use of fabric is diverse, one of her most famous works came from sewing letters onto her grandmother's armchair in ''There's A Lot of Money in Chairs'' (1994). The chair was very detailed, "including her and her twin brother's names, the year of her grandmother's birth (1901) and the year of her death (1963) on either side of the words another world, referring to the passing of time. An exchange between the artist and her grandmother using the nicknames they had for each other: ''Ok Puddin, Thanks Plum'', covers the bottom front of the chair and a saying of Emin's grandmother's, "There's a lot of money in chairs", is appliquéd in pink along the top and front of its back. Behind the chair back, the first page of ''Exploration of the Soul'', handwritten onto fabric, is appliquéd together with other dictums such as, "It's not what you inherit. It's what you do with your inheritance". Emin used the chair on a trip Emin made to the United States in 1994. Driving from San Francisco to New York stopping off along the way to give readings from her book, ''Exploration of the Soul'' (1994). Emin gave her readings sitting in the upholstered chair and "as she crossed the United States, the artist sewed the names of the places she visited – San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Monument Valley, Detroit, Pittsburgh, New York – onto the front of the chair". Emin also posed in the chair for two of her photographic works (see Photography) while in Monument Valley, in the Arizona Desert. It is currently on public display at Pallant House Gallery until 6 March 2011 as part of the exhibition, 'Contemporary Eye: Crossovers', pallant.org.uk. Retrieved 6 May 2016. Emin has made a large number of smaller-scale works, often including hand sewn words and images, such as ''Falling Stars'' (2001), ''It Could Have Been Something'' (2001), ''Always Sorry'' (2005) and ''As Always'' (2005). On 13 April 2007, Emin launched a specially designed flag made out of fabric with the message ''One Secret Is To Save Everything'' written in orange-red letters across the banner made up of hand-sewn swimming sperm. Tracey Emin's flag, at 21 feet by 14 feet, flew above the Jubilee Gardens in the British capital until 31 July 2007, with the parliament building and the London Eye as backdrops. Emin called the artwork "a flag made from wishful thinking". The flag was commissioned by the South Bank Centre in London's Waterloo. In June 2007, on returning from the

, Emin donated a piece of artwork, a handsewn blanket called ''Star Trek Voyager'' to be auctioned at

's annual glamorous White Tie & Tiara Ball to raise money for The Elton John AIDS Foundation. The piece of artwork sold for £800,000.Alexander, Hilary
"White tie and tiara ball"
. telegraph.co.uk, June 2006. Retrieved 25 February 2008. Emin's works on fabric has been related to other artists such as

Louise Bourgeois Louise Joséphine Bourgeois (; 25 December 191131 May 2010) was a French-American artist. Although she is best known for her large-scale sculpture and installation art, Bourgeois was also a prolific painter and printmaker. She explored a varie ...

, who Emin actually mentions in a sewn work called ''The Older Woman'' (2005) with the phrase (monoprint on fabric), "I think my Dad should have gone out with someone older like Louise, Louise Bourgeois".Tracey Emin profile
, lehmannmaupin.com. Retrieved 6 May 2016. She was interviewed by

Alan Yentob Alan Yentob (11 March 1947 – 24 May 2025) was an English television executive and presenter. He held senior roles at the BBC, including head of music and arts, controller of BBC1 and BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadca ...

during the BBC's ''Imagine'' documentary ''Spiderwoman'' about Louise Bourgeois, aired in the UK on 13 November 2007.

Found objects

Emin has often made use of

found object A found object (a calque from the French ''objet trouvé''), or found art, is art created from undisguised, but often modified, items or products that are not normally considered materials from which art is made, often because they already hav ...

s in her work from the early use of a cigarette box found in a car crash in which her uncle died. The most well known example is '' My Bed'', where she displayed her bed. Another instance is the removal of her beach hut from

to be displayed in a gallery. This work was titled ''The Last Thing I Said To You Is Don't Leave Me Here (The Hut)'' (1999). She revisited the theme of the bed in 2002, with the mixed media installation, ''To Meet My Past'' (2002), another installation with a four poster bed with embroidered text such as ''Weird Sex'' and ''To Meet My Past'' hanging down alongside the mattress. She incorporated stones and rocks which had been thrown through her window in a mixed media piece in her 2005 show. The work consists of a monoprint of herself sitting on a chair with the stones lined up below the drawing in a vitrine. ''The Leg'' (2004) included a plaster cast inside a vitrine, kept by the artist after she broke her leg, exhibited alongside a C-print photograph of the artist wearing the cast. ''May Dodge, My Nan (1993)'' is also an installation piece that displays relics of personal items significant to Emin. It was exhibited at the

in Emin's first solo show ''My Major Retrospective.'' ''May Dodge, My Nan'' encompasses five condiments separately framed and mounted to the wall in the exhibition. It consists of a handwritten page of manuscript, two relics and lastly two photographs. From left to right, it views: pasted onto a small paper doily is a magazine cut-out of three kittens along with the caption too 'Timmy, Leo and Squashie posing beautifully for the camera', as well as a small piece of card stuck onto a piece of blue wool, which dangles making the shape of a handle below. A coloured photo from the past of Emin holding a kitten standing next to her grandmother May Dodge sitting at a table in a kitchen. A black and white photo of both Emin as a little girl and May Dodge standing in a garden in the 1960s. A handmade scented pomander that resembles a doll that Emin's grandmother made. The relic made up of sections of soft knitted white cotton fabrics and lace gathered together over its scented stuffing and topped with a plastic doll's head. And, lastly, the hand written note by Emin herself in blue ink.

Sculpture

In February 2005, Emin's first public artwork, ''The Roman Standard '', a bronze sculpture, went on display outside the Oratory, adjacent to

Liverpool Cathedral Liverpool Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Liverpool, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Liverpool and is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Liverpool, diocese of Liverpool. The church may be formally re ...

. It consists of a small bird perched on a tall bronze pole, and is designed so that the bird seems to disappear when viewed from the front. It was commissioned by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. "Emin's work stands outside The Oratory, in Upper Duke Street just outside the Cathedral. The Roman Standard – which features a small bird on top of a four-metre high bronze pole – is a tribute to the city's famous symbol the Liver Bird. The sculpture was commissioned by the BBC as part of their contribution to the art05 festival and Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture in 2008. Emin says the sculpture represents strength and femininity."Installation by Tracey Emin (1 month)
LiverpoolCathedral.org.uk. Retrieved 6 May 2016. In September 2008, she unveiled a neon work that was "installed in the well of the cathedral" Emin herself says of her continuing relationship of making public sculptures in the town, "When Liverpool is Capital of Culture in 2008, I'll be making a large work for the Anglican Cathedral, which I'm really looking forward to." Other sculptures have included ''Death Mask'' (2002) which is a bronze cast of her own head. Emin loaned this work to the

in 2005, At Emin's 2007 ''Venice Biennale'' exhibition, as well as the central exhibition's ''Tower'' sculptures, tall wooden towers consisting of small pieces of timber piled together, a new small bronze-cast sculpture work of a child's pink sock was revealed ''Sock'' (2007) on display on the steps of the British Pavilion. Her exhibition again attracted widespread UK media coverage, both positive and negative. In September 2007, Emin announced she would be exhibiting new sculpture work in the inaugural

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a coastal town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour, shipping port, and fashionable coastal res ...

Triennial, which took place in the Kent town from June until September 2008. In June 2008, Emin discussed the

sculptures, stating the "high percentage" of teenage pregnancies in the Kent town had inspired this latest work. Emin said her contribution would be different pieces placed around the town, "I'm going to be making very tiny bronze-cast items of baby clothing. It's baby clothes that I have found in the street, like a mitten or a sock." Emin's 2007 solo show at

Gagosian Gallery The Gagosian Gallery is a modern and contemporary art gallery owned and directed by Larry Gagosian. The gallery exhibits some of the most well-known artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. As of 2024, Gagosian employs 300 people at 19 exhibiti ...

in Los Angeles' Beverly Hills included brand new sculpture works described by Emin as, "some very strange little sculptures. They are nearly all of animals, apart from one, which is a pineapple. They rest on mini-plinths made in a really brilliant LA, beach, California, Fifties surfer kind of style. Different woods put together in cute pattern formations. In some places the wood is 18th-century floorboards, some bits of cabin from tall ships or things which could have been found on the seashore – driftwood." ''The New York Times'' included Emin in a piece about artists who are "Originals", with a new photograph with two sculptures, one of a small bird on a thin stand and a large seagull, both sculptures placed on wooden plinths. Gagosian further described the many different sculptures from the show as, "a group of delicate wood and jesmonite sculptures, which expand on the spirals, rollercoasters, and bridges of recent years. Others incorporate cast bronze figures – seagulls, songbirds, and frogs – or objects combining cement and glass, which are placed on tables or bundled bases made from found timbers." In late November 2007, it was announced that Emin was one of six artists to have been shortlisted to propose a sculpture for the fourth plinth in London's

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster in Central London. It was established in the early-19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. Its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the Royal Navy, ...

. The other shortlisted artists were

Jeremy Deller Jeremy Deller (born 30 March 1966) is an English people, English conceptual, video and installation artist. Much of Deller's work is Collaboration, collaborative; it has a strong political aspect, in the subjects dealt with and also the Idealiz ...

Antony Gormley Sir Antony Mark David Gormley (born 30 August 1950) is a British sculptor. His works include the ''Angel of the North'', a public sculpture in Gateshead in the north of England, commissioned in 1994 and erected in February 1998; ''Another Pl ...

, Anish Kapoor, Yinka Shonibare, and

Bob and Roberta Smith Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Bob (surname) * Bob (dog), a dog that received the Dickin Medal for bravery in World War II * Bob t ...

– the professional name of Patrick Brill. The contenders were commissioned to produce a scale model of their idea. On 6 January 2008, it was revealed Emin's proposal was a lifesize model of a group of four

meerkat The meerkat (''Suricata suricatta'') or suricate is a small mongoose found in southern Africa. It is characterised by a broad head, large eyes, a pointed snout, long legs, a thin tapering tail, and a brindled coat pattern. The head-and-body ...

s, the desert mammal. Entitled ''Something for the Future'' it consisted of a sculpture of four meerkats "as a symbol of unity and safety" as "whenever Britain is in crisis or, as a nation, is experiencing sadness and loss (for example, after

's funeral), the next programme on television is 'Meerkats United.'" The successful proposal were announced in 2008 as Gormley, whose project '' One & Other'' occupied the plinth in summer 2009 and Shonibare, and whose work ''Nelson's Ship in a Bottle'' was unveiled in 2010. Emin's latest project, commissioned by Oslo Municipality Art Programme, is a 7-metre-tall bronze sculpture, ''The Mother'', to be unveiled on Museum Island, outside the new Munch Museum, when it opens in 2020. (http://www.themuseumisland.com/). From the jury's assessment: 'With its immediate and visceral artistic approach it appears both intimate and majestic, vulnerable and grandiose. The title ''The Mother'' refers to a mature protector and the sculpture brings to mind the ubiquitous motifs of women and the nude in Munch's work. As a non‐idealised depiction of a woman made by a woman it can also be seen as a feminist statement.'

Film

* ''Quiet Lives'' (1982), featuring Emin and boyfriend

—once available with ''Cheated'' and ''Room for Rent'' in ''A Hangman Triple Bill'' (also known as ''The Hangman Trilogy''). * '' Why I Never Became a Dancer'' (1995) is a single-screen projection with sound, shot on Super 8. Duration: 6 minutes, 40 seconds. It was made in an edition of 10 and an edited transcript has been published by Tate. The film portrays the artist's early adolescence in Margate, where she grew up. The film begins with the title written across a wall, and then features a montage of views which are significant to Emin's past, including her school, the seaside and shops. The artist's voice narrates her story, opening with, "I never liked school / I was always late / In fact I hated it / So at thirteen I left." The video's final scenes show Emin's involvement in a local disco-dancing competition, in an attempt to escape to London to take part in the British Disco Dance Championship 1978. The last two minutes of the film consist of Emin dancing exuberantly around an empty studio with the song '' You Make Me Feel'', by

Sylvester Sylvester or Silvester is a name derived from the Latin adjective ''silvestris'' meaning "wooded" or "wild", which derives from the noun ''silva'' meaning "woodland". Classical Latin spells this with ''i''. In Classical Latin, ''y'' represented a ...

along with a voice overed narration of her saying 'Shane, Eddy, Tony, Doug, Richard this one's for you'. In the film, Emin describes leaving school at age 13 and spending her time on Margate's Golden Mile, dreaming and having sex. Sex "was something you could just do and it was for free". She was "13, 14" and having sex with men of "19, 20, 25, 26". In the film, the narration states: "It could be good, really something. I remember the first time someone asked me to grab their balls, I remember the power it gave me. But it wasn't always like that; sometimes they'd just cum, and then they'd leave me there, wherever I was, half naked." In the final scenes, the artist performs at a local dance competition and people begin to clap. A gang of men, "most of whom he artisthad sex with at one time or another" began to chant "slag, slag, slag". In an interview with

Melvyn Bragg Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg (born 6 October 1939) is an English broadcaster, author and parliamentarian. He is the editor and presenter of ''The South Bank Show'' (1978–2010, 2012–2023), and the presenter of the BBC Radio 4 documentary series ...

, Emin commented on the incident: "I don't see why I was such a slag. All I did was sleep with a few people. It's not a crime, I didn't kill anyone." * ''How It Feels'' (1996) * ''Tracey Emin's CV Cunt Vernacular'' (1997), an autobiographical work in which Emin narrates her story from childhood in Margate, through her student years, abortions and destruction of her early work. * ''Homage to Edvard Munch and all My Dead Children'' (1998) * ''Sometimes the Dress Is Worth More Money Than the Money'' (2001). ICA. * '' Top Spot'' (2004), a feature-length non-fiction production mixing DV footage and Super 8 film into a montage. The title, ''Top Spot'', refers to a youth centre/disco in Margate, as well as being an explicit sexual reference. Emin has described ''Top Spot'' as being "about the moment of... understanding that you are walking into an adult world which means sex, which means often violence, which means that you may suddenly have some perspective on your own life that you never had before." ''Top Spot'' was given an 18 certificate by the British Board of Film Classification, much to Emin's dismay, as she intended the film for a teenage audience. Emin withdrew the film from general distribution in cinemas after it was rated with an 18 certificate. It was broadcast on BBC3 television in the UK in December 2004, and a DVD of the film was released in 2004.

Installations

Emin has created a number of installation art pieces including ''Poor Thing (Sarah and Tracey)'' (2001) which was made up of two hanging frames, hospital gowns, a water bottle and wire. A similar installation called ''Feeling Pregnant III'' (2005) made up of fabric hung off wooden and metal coat hangers and stands was a later creation for Emin. Both these installations touch further on Emin's relationship with pregnancy and abortion and can be related to

' sculptures such as ''Untitled'' (1996), a mobile of hanging clothes, and ''Untitled'' (2007), a series of standing bronze sculptures. ''The Perfect Place to Grow'' (2001) was a video installation with a set consisting of a wooden birdhouse, a DVD (shot on Super 8), monitor, trestle, plants, wooden ladder. This installation has been exhibited at the Tate Britain in 2004 in their room dedicated to Emin's work and also White Cube in 2001. It was dedicated to her father, creating the bird house as "a tiny home for my dad", and Emin thought of the works' title from the idea of "nature and nurture". ''Knowing My Enemy'' (2002) was a large-scale installation created by Emin for her

solo show of that year. Consisting of reclaimed wood and steel, Emin created a wooden "look-out" house upon a long, broken, wooden pier. ''It's Not the Way I Want to Die'' (2005) was another large-scale installation, part of Emin's 2005 solo show at White Cube. Emin created a large rollercoaster track with reclaimed timber and metal. Displayed in the same show was a smaller installation work called ''Self Portrait'' (2005) which consisted of a tin bath, bamboo, wire and neon light. Another related installation ''Sleeping With You'' (2005) consisted of painted reclaimed timber and a thin neon light across a dark wall.

Selected publications

The following books or book chapters have been authored by Emin: * ''Exploration of the Soul'' (1994). Limited edition, 200 copies, signed inside, with two original colour photographs, provided in a hand-sewn white cloth bag with the two coloured cloth letters "TE" hand sewn in various colours. An autobiographical short story covering Emin's conception through her life at age 13. Re-released in 2003, in an edition of 1000 by Counter Editions, though without the photographs and cloth bag. * —, Brown, Neal; Kent, Sarah & Collings, Matthew (1998). ''Tracey Emin'' (London: Jay Jopling/White Cube, 1998); . * ''Tracey Emin'' (2002), Booth-Clibborn. * ''The Is Another Place'' (2002). Oxford: Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, Limited edition, 2002; . * ''Details of Depression'' (2003). Counter Editions, Cyprus/London, with author appearing as Tracey Karima Emin, limited edition, stamped on back cover. Brought together an ancient Arabic poem and a series of photographs taken around the northern part of Cyprus. * ''Strangeland'' (2005). London: Scepter5. . Emin's memoir, divided into three sections ("Motherland", "Fatherland" and "Traceyland"), written in the first person, and conveying her life from childhood. Jeanette Winterson wrote: "Her latest writings are painfully honest, and certainly some of it should have been edited out by someone who loves her.""The Times: Books: Tracey Emin"
, jeanettewinterson.com. Retrieved 28 March 2006. Emin's editor for Strangeland was the British novelist Nicholas Blincoe. This book also attracted considerable media coverage, and Billy Childish publicly questioned some of its accounts in newspaper articles. * ''I Can Feel Your Smile'' (2005). New York: Lehmann Maupin. * ''Tracey Emin: Works 1963 – 2006'' (2006). London: Rizzoli. . * ''Borrowed Light: the British Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2007'' (2007). London: British Council. . * ''You Left Me Breathing'' (2008), Gagosian. * ''One Thousand Drawings'' (2009), Rizzoli. * ''Monoprint Diaries'' (2009), White Cube. * ''Those Who Suffer Love'' (2009). A selection of Tracey Emin's '' GQ'' poems, with accompanying drawings. * ''Love Is What You Want'' (2011). A survey of work from Emin's major show at the

in London. * ''My Life in a Column'' (2011).

Miscellanea

A poster she photocopied and put up around her home when her cat Docket went missing became an object collected by people, but was excluded by Emin from her canon. In 2000, Emin was commissioned, as part of a scheme throughout London titled ''Art in Sacred Spaces'', to collaborate with children on an artwork at Ecclesbourne Primary School in

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

, north London. Pupils made the piece with her in Emin's style of sewing cut out letters onto a large piece of material. In 2004, the school enquired if Emin would sign the work so that the school could sell it as an original to raise funds. They planned to auction the piece for £35,000 for an arts unit, as it could not afford to display the large work. Emin and her gallery White Cube refused, saying that it was not a piece of her art, therefore reducing its value, and requested it be returned. But Emin quickly came to an agreement with the school, where she paid £4,000 to create a perspex display box for the patchwork quilt to be showcased. Taking as her theme the title "Tell me something beautiful", Emin invited eight-year-olds to nominate their ideas of beauty and then to sew the keywords in felt letters on bright fabric squares. The resulting bold patchwork featured words such as "tree", "sunrise", "dolphin" and "nan". Art critic John Slyce, who has worked on school collaborations with artists, supported Emin and White Cube's decision saying, "This is a horrific precedent for the school to try to set. They were lucky to have an artist of that stature spending that amount of time with them ... the artwork should remain in context with the kids. Children's primary experience of art should not be as a commodity."

Emin and feminism

Tracey Emin is one of just two women professors to be appointed at London's Royal Academy of Arts since the Academy was founded in 1768. In February 2013, she was named as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4. In response to the question " es society sufficiently value women artists?", Emin answered, "No. Of course not. But it's changing slowly. We probably just need another 200 years." Emin does not overtly appear as a feminist artist, nor does she believe so herself. In an interview with Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Emin stated that she is a feminist, but not a feminist artist. Emin discusses sexism from the viewpoint of the being a female victim. Though Emin's subversion of feminine stereotypes, Sophie Lloyd in her article describes her work as, "… mbodyinga change in perception of female sexuality that was in line with third-wave feminism, with women defining beauty and sexuality on their own terms." By narrating such harrowed and tortured memories, Emin uses vulnerability to tell not only her own struggles, but the struggles that many women may face while finding themselves. Emin openly discusses her 1998 installation '' My Bed'' for audiences and interviewers alike. She has been as saying that, "By realizing how separate I was from it, I separated myself from the bed. I wasn't there any more." This notion of a female using the domestic space and then removing herself from the environment, thus confronting stereotypes and taboos in a confessional work was a controversial event. Feminists critics have described Emin as using the historical notion of the bedroom and its importance for female experiences, as a site for crude intervention. John Molyneux explains in his article ''Emin Matters'', that her work revolves around class, sex and art itself. He writes that, "What she does do is present herself as culturally working class…She makes no attempt to engage in 'intellectual art speak' but sticks to unaffected everyday language," employing a strategy that doesn't place her in authority over her viewers or peers. However, her class background contradicts this tactic of equal understanding. Emin's mother until age seven owned a hotel in Margate, but bankruptcy and poverty ensued only when she broke up with Emin's father. While she may use street language, swear words, grammatical errors and misspellings to convey a primarily middle-class female experience, Emin now functions as a boss of her own art business and exists within the elite upper class. Her relationship with sex is a major theme and aspect of her work. Feminist writers have reviewed Emin's pieces as containing, "…no element of eroticism or titillation…unlike in Botticelli, Renoir or Klimt. Nor is it sexual fantasy or dreams, as we might find in surrealism, or the sex of the brothel featured so heavily in late 19th-century French art. It is real, everyday sex—as experienced by her, of course, but also by millions of other people".

Confessional nature of Emin's work

While studying painting at the Royal College of Art Emin became disenchanted with the art of painting, "the idea of being a bourgeois artist, making paintings that just got hung in rich people's houses was a really redundant, old fashioned idea that made no sense for the times that we were living in." She felt there was no point in making art that someone had made decades or centuries before her, "I had to create something totally new or not at all". When asked by a reporter, when she decided that her life 'as Tracey Emin' was going to be her art, she replied '"I realised that I was much better than anything I'd ever made". Roberta Smith of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' says the following about Emin's work: "In her art she tells all, all the truths, both awful and wonderful, but mostly awful, about her life. Physical and psychic pain in the form of rejection, incest, rape, abortion and sex with strangers figure in this tale, as do love, passion and joy."

Music

In 1998, Emin duetted with pop singer

Boy George George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer-songwriter and DJ who rose to fame as the lead singer of the pop band Culture Club. He began his solo career in 1987. Boy George grew up in Eltham a ...

on a song called "Burning Up", released on an 18 track audio CD that accompanied the book ''We love you''. In 2005, Emin compiled a CD of her favourite music called ''Music To Cry To'', which was released and sold by the UK household furnishings retailer and brand

Habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

. In 2009, Emin designed the album artwork for a release by singer/songwriter Harper Simon, son of

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter known for his solo work and his collaborations with Art Garfunkel. He and Garfunkel, whom he met in elementary school in 1953, came to prominence in the 1960s as Sim ...

. The front cover depicts an aeroplane, drawn in Emin's scratchy monoprint style.

Health

In spring 2020, Emin was diagnosed with squamous-cell

bladder cancer Bladder cancer is the abnormal growth of cells in the bladder. These cells can grow to form a tumor, which eventually spreads, damaging the bladder and other organs. Most people with bladder cancer are diagnosed after noticing blood in thei ...

. She underwent an operation to remove her bladder and several adjacent organs ( radical cystectomy and full

hysterectomy Hysterectomy is the surgical removal of the uterus and cervix. Supracervical hysterectomy refers to removal of the uterus while the cervix is spared. These procedures may also involve removal of the ovaries (oophorectomy), fallopian tubes ( salpi ...

) that summer 2020, and this left her in remission, but with a

stoma In botany, a stoma (: stomata, from Greek language, Greek ''στόμα'', "mouth"), also called a stomate (: stomates), is a pore found in the Epidermis (botany), epidermis of leaves, stems, and other organs, that controls the rate of gas exc ...

. In December 2023, Emin was travelling from Australia to Thailand on the way back to the United Kingdom, when she experienced complications from an operation on her

small intestine The small intestine or small bowel is an organ (anatomy), organ in the human gastrointestinal tract, gastrointestinal tract where most of the #Absorption, absorption of nutrients from food takes place. It lies between the stomach and large intes ...

, which she said "nearly exploded". She was subsequently hospitalised in

Phuket Phuket (; , , or ''Tongkah'') is one of the Southern Thailand, southern Provinces of Thailand, provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, List of islands of Thailand, the country's largest island, and another 3 ...

, Thailand.

Charity work

Emin is well known for her charity work; she has raised over a million pounds for children's charities such as the

NSPCC The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is a British child protection charity founded as the Liverpool Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (LSPCC) by Thomas Agnew on 19 April 1883. The NSPCC lobbies t ...

and for HIV/AIDS charities including the

Terrence Higgins Trust Terrence Higgins Trust is a British charity that campaigns about and provides services relating to HIV and sexual health. In particular, the charity aims to end the transmission of HIV in the UK; to support and empower people living with HIV, to ...

. She frequently donates original artworks for charity auctions, and has often adopted the role of auctioneer on the charity night to help increase the highest bid. In June 2007, on returning from the

, Emin donated a piece of artwork, a handsewn blanket called ''Star Trek Voyager'' to be auctioned at

's annual glamorous White Tie & Tiara Ball to raise money for The Elton John AIDS Foundation. The piece of artwork sold for £800,000. Also in June 2007, Emin's neon work ''Keep Me Safe'' reached the highest price ever (at that time) made for one of her neon works of over £60,000. Emin has participated in ''

'' newspaper's ''Christmas Appeal'' for many years, where she has offered for auction bespoke artworks and also drawing lessons with the artist. In December 2006, her lot raised £14,000 for a one-on-one drawing lesson, over champagne and cake, with the artist. The following year, in December 2007, her lot raised £25,150 for their appeal offering a special unique drawing of the highest bidder's pet embroidered onto a cushion in Emin's trademark style. In January 2008, Emin went to Uganda where she had set up the brand new "Tracey Emin Library" at the rural Forest High School. She explained in her newspaper column, "Schools here don't have libraries. In fact, rural areas have very little. Most have no doctor, no clinic, no hospital; schools are few and far between. Education cannot afford to be a priority, but it should be... I think this library may be just the beginning." On

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a Christian martyrs, martyr named Saint Valentine, Valentine, and ...

2008, Emin donated a red, heart-shaped neon artwork called ''I Promise To Love You'' (2007) for a charity auction to raise money for The Global Fund, which helps women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa. The auction was called ''(Auction) RED''. The work sold for a record price $220,000, which was much higher than the guide estimates of between $60,000 and $80,000. In 2023, Tracey Emin opened TKE Studios in Margate housing affordable spaces for professional artists to work (TKE Studio Members), as well as the ‘Tracey Emin Artist Residency’ (TEAR) programme. TKE Studio Members include Studio Lenca, Vanessa Raw and Lindsey Mendick. Graduates of TEAR include Bianca Raffaella, Helen Teede and Emmie Nume.

Political activities

Emin has been a critic of Britain's income tax regime, stating "I'm simply not willing to pay tax at 50%", she is "very seriously considering leaving Britain", and suggests she will live in France. "The French have lower tax rates and they appreciate arts and culture." Emin has since denied that she intends to leave the country, stating that a journalist she spoke to previously exaggerated her comments, and that London is her home, and is the context in which she belongs. ''

'' newspaper reported in August 2010 that Emin is thought of as a supporter of the Conservative Party. In an interview with ''

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

'', she revealed that she voted for the Conservatives at the 2010 general election, adding, "We've got the best government at the moment that we've ever had." She has stated that she is an 'outsider' in the art world, as a result of voting Conservative. She is a

royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...

. In April 2014, Emin, who has a home and studio in Spitalfields, publicly called to save an East London newsagent who faced eviction from

Old Spitalfields Market Old Spitalfields Market is a covered Market (place), market in Spitalfields, London. There has been a market on the site for over 350 years. In 1991 it gave its name to New Spitalfields Market in Leyton, where fruit and vegetables are now trade ...

, after 22 years in business. She started a petition to save newsagent Ashok Patel's business, which was signed by 1,000 people. In August 2014, Emin was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to ''

'' expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue.

Awards and honours

In 2007, London's Royal Academy of Arts elected Tracey Emin as a Royal Academician and four years later, the Academy appointed Emin a Professor of Drawing. The University of Kent also awarded Emin an honorary doctorate in 2007. Emin was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the

2013 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2013 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to the arts. In February 2013, she was named one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by ''

Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History The first BBC programme for women was the programme cal ...

'' on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

. Emin was made an honorary freewoman of Margate in 2022. Emin was appointed

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(DBE) in the

2024 Birthday Honours The 2024 King's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of Charles III, King Charles III to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens ...

for services to art. In December 2024, Tracy Emin was included on the

's '' 100 Women'' list.

Art market

Emin's primary galleries are White Cube in London (since 1993), Lorcan O'Neill in Rome and

in Brussels.Colin Gleadell (20 January 2013)
"Tracey Emin Lured Buyers From Kate Moss to Charles Saatchi"
, '' ARTINFO''. Retrieved 10 May 2016. In 2017, Emin and Lehmann Maupin ended their working relationship.

, who was best known as the most high-profile, high-spending collector of contemporary British art, bought ''My Bed'' (1998) for £150,000 ($248,000) from Lehmann Maupin's "Every Part of Me's Bleeding," the exhibition that won the artist a nomination for the 1999

.Teeman, Tim. "Get into Bed with Tracey Emin for $2 Million: The Sale of a British Art Icon." ''The Daily Beast'' 28 May 2014 ProQuest. 3 March 2017 In 2013, on the occasion of a

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

London sale that raised a total of 3.1 million pounds ($5 million) in aid of the Saatchi Gallery's policy of free entry, ''To Meet My Past'' (2002) sold for $778,900, establishing a new record for the artist. At another Christie's auction in 2014, ''My Bed'' was sold to White Cube founding director

Jay Jopling Jeremy Michael "Jay" Jopling (born June 1963) is an English art dealer and gallerist. He is the founder of White Cube. Early life Jeremy Michael Jopling is the son of Michael Jopling, Michael Jopling, Baron Jopling, a Conservative Party (UK), ...

for 2.5 million pounds, including buyer's commission, once again to benefit the Saatchi Gallery's foundation. It was estimated that the price of ''My Bed'' would sell between 800,000 and 1.2 million pounds.Milliard, Coline. "Christie's Rides Tracey Emin's ''Bed'' to £99 Million Night." artnetnews 1 July 2014. 3 March 2017 Before the sale, Emin said that "what I would really love is that someone did buy it and they donated it to the Tate." Her most commonly auctioned sculptural works are phrases in her own handwriting set in neon, usually issued in editions of three, with two artist's proofs. In 2011, British Prime Minister

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

added an artwork with 'more passion' in neon by Emin in his private apartment at

10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London is the official residence and office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister of the United Kingdom. Colloquially known as Number 10, the building is located in Downing Street, off Whitehall in th ...

. In January 2022, Emin requested that the artwork be removed in response to the Westminster lockdown parties controversy. In April 2014, Emin participated at The Other Art Fair for unrepresented artists. ''I’ve Got It All'' (2000) sold at £74,500. ''Like A Cloud of Blood'' (2022), among the first paintings Emin made following her six-month recovery from cancer treatment, was sold by the artist in October 2022 at Christie's, to benefit the Tracey Emin Foundation, in support the work of TKE Studios, a subsidised professional artist's studios with an additional twenty residencies including a free arts educational program. The deeply personal large-scale canvas sold for £2,322,000 — a new record price for a painting by the artist.

References

External links

*
Film about joint 2010 exhibition with Paula Rego and Mat Collishaw at the Foundling Museum – The GuardianInterview on ''The Guardian'' website
on her debut film ''Top Spot''
Interview in ''The Observer''
about Margate
Tracey Emin interviewed in ''The Guardian''
about Momart Fire
h2g2 article on Tracey Emin"Mad Tracey From Margate" dvdTracey Emin I Egon Schiele "Where I Want to Go" Exhibition at Leopold Museum Vienna
Interview with exhibition co-curator Diethard Leopold {{DEFAULTSORT:Emin, Tracey 1963 births Living people 20th-century English painters 21st-century English painters Academic staff of European Graduate School Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London Alumni of the Royal College of Art Alumni of the University for the Creative Arts Artists awarded knighthoods Artists from Kent Artists from the London Borough of Croydon BRIT Award trophy designers British feminist artists British women conceptual artists English contemporary artists English feminists English installation artists English monarchists English people of Turkish Cypriot descent English Romani people Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire People from Croydon People from Margate Romani feminists Romani people in art Royal Academicians Young British Artists 20th-century English women painters 21st-century English women painters Romani women Romanichal people