Tracey Emin lives and works in East London and Margate, UK. She came to prominence as one of the “Young British Artists” and is known for her autobiographical and confessionary artwork. Tracey Emin’s art varies in medium, encompassing drawing, painting, sculptures, film, photography, neon text, and sewn appliqué.
Tracey Emin lives and works in East London and Margate, UK. She came to prominence as one of the “Young British Artists” and is known for her autobiographical and confessionary artwork. Tracey Emin’s art varies in medium, encompassing drawing, painting, sculptures, film, photography, neon text, and sewn appliqué.
Emin’s raw emotions are evident throughout her artworks, and yet she somehow straddles both intimacy and universality in her art. Emin is deeply inspired by expressionist painters Edvard Munch and Egon Schiele, and in 2021 she selected artworks by Munch to show alongside her own in an exhibition at the Royal Academy. Packing an emotional punch, Emin uses her platform to draw attention to the female voice and the power of femininity. Through her mastering of a wide variety of mediums, and her brave tackling of important public and personal issues, Emin has solidified her place in contemporary art history. Emin has gone from being deemed the most ‘’controversial’’ member of the YBA’s, and an ‘’enfant terrible’’, to one of the first female Royal Academicians. She was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1999, and in 2013 was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire). Emin’s artwork is held in some of the world’s most prestigious institutions, including the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, and the Goetz Collection in Munich.
In 2012, Emin designed one of the official posters for the London Olympic games.
We love the openness of Emin's exploration of her personal history and how it's distilled into her creative process.
“The most beautiful thing is honesty, even if it’s really painful to look at.”
Emin designed the Brit Award in 2015.
One of Emin's earliest art projects was a shop that she opened and ran with fellow artist, Sarah Lucas, in London's East End.
