Tracey Emin: A Second Life

Step into the tender, confessional world of Tracey Emin. Published alongside a major retrospective tracing 40 years of her groundbreaking practice, the publication reproduces Emin’s career-defining sensations alongside unseen works, celebrating her raw and confessional approach as she poses profound questions on love, trauma, and autobiography

Dame Emin is one of the most important contemporary artists of her generation. She was catapulted into the public eye in the 1990s with iconic works like her Turner Prize–nominated My Bed, which sparked fierce critical and public debate, challenging what art could be. Emin’s disregard for any separation of the personal and the public, along with her commitment to unapologetic self-expression, came to define a historic moment in British culture and global art history.

Broadening Emin’s story, this monograph celebrates her raw and confessional approach as she poses profound questions on love, trauma, and autobiography. It also demonstrates her lifelong commitment to painting, showing her recent work as the culmination of the ways she has channeled her life into her art.

Published alongside a major retrospective tracing 40 years of her groundbreaking practice, the publication reproduces Emin’s career-defining sensations alongside works never exhibited before. Through painting, video, textiles, neons, writing, sculpture, and installation, Emin continues to challenge boundaries, using the female body as a powerful tool to explore passion, pain, and healing.

Maria Balshaw is director of Tate. Previously, she was director of the Whitworth, University of Manchester; director of Manchester City Galleries; and director of culture for Manchester City Council. Balshaw is chair of the National Museum Directors’ Council and is a trustee of the Factory International Board in Manchester. She is also a member of the Women Leaders in Museums Network and a member of the Bizot group. Alvin Li is curator, international art at Tate Modern.