Tracey Emin
b. 1963
British-born and based artist Tracey Emin is a national icon in the British contemporary art scene and was part of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who burst onto the London art scene in the late 1980s. Emin studied fashion at Medway College of Design (now part of the University for the Creative Arts) and completed an MA in painting at the Royal College of Art. Through the mediums of sculpture, neons, textile, drawing and painting, Emin’s work is often unabashedly and defiantly autobiographical, recounting the artist’s life experiences.
Emin was made Royal Academician in 2007, Professor of Drawing at the Royal Academy in 2011, appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2013, and made a Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2024. Emin represented Great Britain at the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007 and has exhibited extensively including major exhibitions at Royal Academy of Arts, London (2020); Musée d’Orsay, Paris (2019); Château La Coste, Aix-en-Provence, France (2017); Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami (2013); Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (2012); Hayward Gallery, London (2011); Kunstmuseum Bern (2009); Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Malaga, Spain (2008); Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2003); and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2002).
Emin’s work is also in the permanent collections of Munch Museum, Oslo; Saatchi Gallery, London; Tate, London; White Cube, London; Royal Academy of Art, London and Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh amongst others.
Emin now also runs her own foundation; TKE TKE Studios in Margate.
