Tracey Emin: Art as Confession

Tracey Emin (born 1963) is a British artist working across installation, conceptual art, sculpture, and video, known for highly personal works that merge autobiography with contemporary art practice.

Her work often draws on autobiographical material, addressing themes such as relationships, memory, sexuality, and emotional vulnerability. One of her most recognized installations, My Bed (1998), presents an unmade bed surrounded by personal objects, reflecting a moment of crisis and lived experience.

Emin’s practice engages with questions of confession, authorship, and self-representation, using direct and intimate forms of expression that challenge traditional boundaries between life and art. Through a range of media, she has developed a body of work that foregrounds personal narrative as a central component of contemporary artistic discourse.

My Bed, Tracey Emin, 1998, mattress, linens, pillows, objects, 31 × 83 × 92 in (79 × 211 × 234 cm). Shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 1999; it was sold in 2014 for £2.2 million.

Tracey Emin, Black Cat, 2008. Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy White Cube Gallery. © Tracey Emin. Photo- Todd-White Art Photography.

Tracey Emin, I Followed you to the end, 2024. Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy Yale Center for British Art. © Tracey Emin. Photo- Ollie Harrop.

Key Works:Just Love Me, 1998 (Bergen, Norway: Kunstmuseum);Hate and Power Can Be a Terrible Thing, 2004 (London: Tate Collection)