Opening this week at Tate Modern is the largest ever survey exhibition celebrating the groundbreaking work of world-renowned artist Dame Tracey Emin (b.1963).
Spanning her extraordinary 40-year practice – from seminal installations made in the 1990s, to recent paintings and bronzes going on display for the first time – A Second Life marks the most significant exhibition of Emin’s career, tracing the key life events that have shaped her journey and transformation.
Conceived in close collaboration with the artist, the exhibition brings together over 100 works including painting, video, textile, neon, sculpture and installation, demonstrating Emin’s raw approach to sharing experiences of love, trauma and personal growth.
From her first solo exhibition at White Cube, to works connected with her hometown of Margate, and recent works exploring Emin’s new relationship with her body following major surgery for bladder cancer, the exhibition shows how Tracey Emin’s commitment to unapologetic self-expression has transformed our understanding of what art can be.
At the heart of the exhibition are two renowned installations, Exorcism of the Last Painting I Ever Made 1996 and My Bed 1998.
The exhibition culminates with Emin exploring her second life in painting. While pain and heartbreak are still present, Tracey Emin’s ambitious large-scale paintings offer a transcendent, spiritual quality, showing a resolute determination to live in the present.
Dame Tracey Emin said “I’m very excited about having a show at Tate Modern. For me, it’s one of the greatest international contemporary art museums in the world and it’s here in London. I feel this show, titled ‘A second Life’, will be a bench mark for me. A moment in my life when I look back and go forward. A true celebration of living.”
For further information: tate.org.uk
Image: Tracey Emin: A Second Life Tate Modern. © Tracey Emin. Photo © Tate (Sonal Bakrania)