Tracey Emin

Wild, confessional and brutally honest as well as tender and extremely vulnerable. In the groundbreaking practice of Tracey Emin, one of the most important figures of contemporary art, art and creativity literally become questions of life and death.

Tracey Emin (born 1963) uses herself, talks about herself – some would say exposes – and is thus both the engine and mechanism in the production of images of herself. It may sound private and self-indulgent, but this very honest approach to the world has proven to have a direct, powerful appeal to an enormous number of people, ever since Emin broke through on the international art scene.

This happened during the 1990s, when she was part of the famous group of Young British Artists (YBA) – and it culminated in 1999 when she presenested the installation My Bed, at Tate in London, which had been nominated for the prestigious Turner Prize.

The work comprises the artist’s own bed, as it appeared following a personal breakdown. Scattered around the bed are various objects: empty bottles, cigarette packets, condoms, underwear, shoes and other personal belongings. At the time, the work sparked a heated media debate and controversy, but today it is regarded as an iconic work of contemporary art.

Including painting, drawing, sculpture, textile, film and installation, this exhibition – created in close collaboration with the artist and containing works that have never been shown before – unfolds the full story of and about Tracey Emin. A life in images, marked by rape, abortion and very serious illness – as well as by courage and struggle, despair and joy and the sheer power of surviving through art and creativity.

The show aims to trace almost 40 years of groundbreaking practice, highlighting how Tracey Emin continually challenges boundaries and uses the female body as a powerful tool to explore passion, trauma, pain and healing.

The exhibition also focuses on Tracey Emin’s lifelong commitment to painting and shows a number of her most recent works – a provisional culmination of the countless ways in which she has managed to channel her life into her art.

The exhibition Tracey Emin: A Second Life is supported by C.L. David Foundation and Collection: