Tracey Emin

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Tracey Emin was born on 3 July 1963 in Croydon, south London, to an English mother of Romanichal descent and a Turkish Cypriot father. She was brought up in Margate, Kent, with her twin brother, Paul. She studied fashion at Medway College of Design (1980–82), printmaking at Maidstone Art College (1983–86), and obtained an MA in painting from the Royal College of Art in 1989. After graduation, she had two traumatic abortions and destroyed all the art she had produced in graduate school, describing the period as "emotional suicide."

In 1993, Emin opened a shop with fellow artist Sarah Lucas, called The Shop at 103 Bethnal Green Road, selling works including T-shirts and ashtrays with Damien Hirst's picture stuck to the bottom. Later that year, she had her first solo show at White Cube, My Major Retrospective, featuring personal photographs and items such as a packet of cigarettes her uncle was holding when he was decapitated in a car crash. In 1995, her tent Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995 was first exhibited, appliquéd with the names of everyone she had slept with, including relatives, her twin brother, and her two aborted children. The tent was later bought by Charles Saatchi and included in the 1997 Sensation exhibition at the Royal Academy, then toured to Berlin and New York; it was destroyed in the 2004 Momart warehouse fire. Emin gained considerable media exposure in 1997 when she appeared drunk and swore repeatedly on a live television broadcast of a discussion programme called The Death of Painting. In 1999, she was nominated for the Turner Prize and exhibited My Bed, a readymade installation of her own unmade dirty bed, featuring used condoms and blood-stained underwear. Two performance artists, Yuan Chai and Jian Jun Xi, jumped onto the bed with bare torsos to "improve" the work. In July 1999, she created monoprints inspired by Diana, Princess of Wales for a themed exhibition called Temple of Diana. She was appointed Professor of Drawing at the Royal Academy in December 2011; with Fiona Rae, she is one of the first two female professors since the Academy was founded in 1768. Emin lived in Spitalfields, East London, before returning to Margate, where she funds the TKE Studios with workspace for aspiring artists.

Reader's Guide

Tracey Emin's significance lies in her unflinching autobiographical and confessional approach, which challenged traditional boundaries between public and private life in art. Her work, often drawing on personal trauma including rape at age 13 and two abortions, brought intimate experiences into gallery spaces. The tent Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995 and the installation My Bed became iconic works of the Young British Artists movement, provoking debate about the nature of art and the role of the artist's biography. Emin's election as a Royal Academician in 2016 and her appointment as Professor of Drawing at the Royal Academy in 2011 marked institutional recognition of her influence. Her legacy includes expanding the possibilities of confessional art and inspiring a generation of artists to incorporate personal narratives into their practice. She continues to produce work across multiple media and funds TKE Studios in Margate for aspiring artists.

Did You Know?

• Emin was raped at the age of 13 while living in Margate, and later said she had 'no memory of being a virgin', citing numerous times she was raped as a young teenager.
• Her tent Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995 included the names of relatives she slept with as a child, her twin brother, and her two aborted children.
• In 1997, Emin appeared drunk and swore repeatedly on a live Channel 4 programme called The Death of Painting.
• Two performance artists, Yuan Chai and Jian Jun Xi, jumped onto her Turner Prize-nominated installation My Bed with bare torsos to 'improve' the work.
• Emin was appointed Professor of Drawing at the Royal Academy in December 2011, one of the first two female professors since the Academy was founded in 1768.