\u201cA Second Life brings together more than 90 works, forming a map in which each stage of life finds its reflection.\u201d<\/h2>\n
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Far removed from artifice, her work is grounded in the direct exposure of experience: love, violence, loss, illness. Elements traditionally kept at the margins of institutional narratives are brought firmly to the centre.<\/p>\n
“A Second Life”<\/em> is not only a retrospective, but a critical re-reading of that trajectory. More than 90 works \u2014 spanning painting, video, textile, sculpture, neon and installation \u2014 form a map where each stage of life finds its reflection.<\/p>\n The exhibition opens with a significant gesture. The works that formed her first solo exhibition at White Cube<\/span><\/span><\/em>, “My Major Retrospective 1982\u201393”<\/em>, appear here as small photographs \u2014 images of paintings that Emin herself destroyed during a difficult personal period. This absence \u2014 what is no longer there \u2014 introduces a constant in her work: the relationship between creation and loss.<\/p>\n Alongside these, key works such as “Tracey Emin CV” <\/em>(1995) and the video “Why I Never Became A Dancer” <\/em>(1995) construct a first-person narrative in which the artist revisits episodes from her adolescence in Margate<\/span><\/span>. There is no distance, no metaphor. Only direct storytelling.<\/p>\n The coastal town of Margate runs throughout Emin<\/em>\u2019s work as an emotional territory.<\/p>\n It is where she grew up, where she returned at different points in her life, and where she eventually settled again following her mother\u2019s death in 2016 and her illness in 2020.<\/p>\n In the exhibition, Margate appears both as a site of memory and confrontation. Works such as “Mad Tracey From Margate” <\/em>(1997) and the sculpture “It\u2019s Not the Way I Want to Die”<\/em> (2005) translate this bond into images charged with tension. The Dreamland amusement park<\/em>, for instance, ceases to be a place of leisure and becomes a symbol of vulnerability.<\/p>\n One of the most uncomfortable \u2014 and necessary \u2014 aspects of Emin<\/em>\u2019s work is her treatment of trauma. The artist does not soften or reinterpret: she exposes.<\/p>\n The exhibition directly addresses issues such as sexual violence, abortion and guilt. Works like the neon “I could have Loved my Innocence”<\/em> (2007) and the textile piece “Is This a Joke”<\/em> (2009) reveal her commitment to making visible what is rarely spoken.<\/p>\n Particularly striking is the video “How It Feels”<\/em> (1996), in which Emin<\/em> recounts her experience of a traumatic abortion. More than a confession, it is a position taken against the social and institutional structures surrounding the female body.<\/p>\n Here, art doesn’t function as refuge, but as a tool for confrontation.<\/p>\n At the core of the exhibition are two of Emin<\/em>\u2019s most renowned works: “Exorcism of the Last Painting I Ever Made”<\/em> (1996) and “My Bed”<\/em> (1998).<\/p>\n The former documents an extreme process: three weeks during which the artist confined herself in a gallery in Stockholm, attempting to rebuild her relationship with painting after years of creative block.<\/p>\n The latter \u2014 arguably her most iconic work \u2014 presents her bed exactly as it was left after a depressive episode marked by alcohol. No filters, no staging.<\/p>\n Both pieces mark a turning point \u2014 not only in her career, but in how contemporary art understands the relationship between life and work.<\/p>\n The exhibition\u2019s title finds its full meaning in its final section. After overcoming cancer and undergoing complex surgery, Emin<\/em> enters a new phase in which the body once again takes centre stage, but from a different perspective.<\/p>\n “<\/em>The sculpture Ascension”<\/em> (2024) and a series of recent photographs document her current relationship with her body, including the presence of a stoma. Rather than concealing it, she integrates it into her discourse.<\/p>\n These works carry a sense of both fragility and determination. The idea of a “second life” is not framed as an idealised rebirth, but as a conscious continuation.<\/p>\n The exhibition culminates in a series of large-scale paintings where the human figure appears fragmented, almost dissolved. Here, the language becomes more open, more gestural. Pain remains present, but it no longer occupies the entire space. There is a subtle spiritual dimension \u2014 a form of resistance translated into paint. In contrast, the sculpture “Death Mask”<\/em> (2002) introduces a darker note, reminding us that Emin<\/em>\u2019s work never allows for a single reading.<\/p>\n The experience extends beyond the interior of the Tate<\/em>.<\/p>\n Outside, the monumental sculpture “I Followed You Until The End” <\/em>(2023) stands as an extension of the project. A piece that engages with the public realm while maintaining the emotional intensity of her work.<\/p>\n Tracey Emin<\/em>\u2019s relevance lies not only in her trajectory, but in her ability to continue generating friction. In a context where many contemporary practices tend to dissolve into aesthetics, her work insists on the essential: the human experience in all its complexity.<\/p>\n “A Second Life”<\/em> doesn’t seek to conclude a career, but to mark a turning point: a moment from which to look both backwards and forwards with the same level of honesty.<\/p>\n Until 31 August 2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n (*)<\/strong> Cover: Tracey Emin My Bed<\/em> 1998 \u00a9 Tracey Emin. All rights reserved, DACS 2026. Photo credit: Courtesy The Saatchi Gallery, London \/ Photograph by Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd; Horizontal still 1: Tracey Emin A Second Life<\/em>billboard, Spitalfields Commercial St, February 2026. Image courtesy of Tate and Jack Arts (part of BUILDHOLLYWOOD); Horizontal still 2: Tracey Emin, The End of Love<\/em> 2024 \u00a9 Tracey Emin. Tate; Slider image 1: Tracey Emin, I whisper to My Past Do I have Another Choice<\/em> 2010. \u00a9 Tracey Emin; Slider image 2: Tracey Emin, Exorcism of the Last Painting I Ever Made<\/em> 1996 \u00a9 Tracey Emin; Slider image 3: Tracey Emin A Second Life<\/em> at Tate Modern, installation view. Photo \u00a9 Tate (Sonal Bakrania); Slider image 4: Tracey Emin, I Never Asked to Fall in Love – You Made Me Feel Like This<\/em> 2018 \u00a9 Tracey Emin; Slider image 5: Tracey Emin A Second Life<\/em> at Tate Modern, installation view. Photo \u00a9 Tate (Sonal Bakrania); Slider image 6: Tracey Emin A Second Life<\/em> at Tate Modern, installation view of Why I Never Became a Dancer<\/em> (1995). Photo \u00a9 Tate (Yili Liu); Slider image 7: Tracey Emin A Second Life<\/em> at Tate Modern, installation view. Photo \u00a9 Tate (Sonal Bakrania); Slider image 8: Tracey Emin A Second Life<\/em> at Tate Modern, installation view. Photo \u00a9 Tate (Sonal Bakrania); Slider image 9: Tracey Emin A Second Life<\/em> at Tate Modern, installation view. Photo \u00a9 Tate (Sonal Bakrania); Slider image 10: Tracey Emin A Second Life<\/em> at Tate Modern. Photo \u00a9 Tate (Sonal Bakrania); Vertical image 1: Portrait of Tracey Emin, Tate Modern 2026. Photo \u00a9 Tate (Sonal Bakrania); Vertical image 2: Tracey Emin A Second Life<\/em> billboard, Shoreditch, February 2026. Image courtesy of Tate and Jack Arts (part of BUILDHOLLYWOOD); Vertical image 3: Tracey Emin A Second Life<\/em> at Tate Modern, installation view, The Last of the Gold<\/em> (2002). Photo \u00a9 Tate (Sonal Bakrania); Vertical image 4: Tracey Emin, I am The Last of my Kind<\/em> 2019 \u00a9 Tracey Emin; Vertical image 5: Tracey Emin A Second Life<\/em> at Tate Modern, installation view. Photo \u00a9 Tate (Sonal Bakrania).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A body of work that reshaped contemporary art Since the 1990s, Emin has challenged the boundaries of what can be considered art. Her radically autobiographical approach opened up space for intimacy within contemporary discourse, particularly from a female perspective. \u201cA Second Life brings together more than 90 works, forming a map in which each stage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":100049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5902,5900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exhibitions","category-art-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ccmagazine.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Tracey-Emin-A-Second-Life-billboard-Shoreditch-February-2026.-Image-courtesy-Tate-and-Jack-Arts-part-of-BUILDHOLLYWOOD.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBeginnings: memory, loss and reconstruction<\/h6>\n
\u201cThe coastal town of Margate runs throughout Emin\u2019s work as an emotional territory.\u201d<\/h2>\n
Margate: origin and return<\/h6>\n
Trauma, the body and unfiltered narrative<\/h6>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ccmagazine.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Tracey-Emin-A-Second-Life-at-Tate-Modern-installation-view-The-Last-of-the-Gold-2002.-Photo-\u00a9-Tate-Sonal-Bakrania.jpg\")
<\/p>\nKey works: from collapse to reconstruction<\/h6>\n
Illness, the body and a second life<\/h6>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ccmagazine.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2.-Tracey-Emin-I-followed-you-to-the-end-2024.-Yale-Centre-for-British-Art.-\u00a9-Tracey-Emin.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPainting: a more open energy<\/h6>\n
Beyond the museum<\/h6>\n
An artist who continues to unsettle<\/h6>\n
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<\/p>\n\u201cThis exhibition mark a turning point: a moment from which to look both backwards and forwards with the same level of honesty.\u201d<\/h2>\n