Tracey Emin: Thoughts on her most recent show

My love for Tracey Emin continues to grow by the handfuls, so I was thrilled when she was showing at the same time I was in NYC. She showed in the Lower East Side, it was my mother and I's only reason for venturing that far down into the city... other then Katz's Deli and their pastrami sandwich and homemade pickles....

Her show situated itself on the wall and took on 3 of her classic forms of working, printmaking, embroidery on fabric, and neon word signs. I walked quickly past her prints, looking into each one of them but failing to take any interest.The subject matter: Emin's vagina rendered in a very sloppy way, often accompanied by backwards words. They were all the same, reinforcing an idea she has been working and reworking for many years. The prints are no longer surprising or edgy, but redundant. I moved on. What caught my eye was a large scale tapestry.


photo taken with a iPhone... sorry for the quality.

I admired the beauty, the craftsmanship, the intricacy and the obviously restraint. I loved how the essence of Emin's thoughts were contained in this one piece.

Nothing touches...with flowers splaying forth from her. Emin may be in the white dress but nobody asked her to get in it. She is wearing it but it has nothing to do with be married. In fact, it has everything to do with not being married, not being in love and not being content.

But perhaps this isn't Emin's point. Maybe it's mine and she got their first. Lately, I've been working out the notion of female desire to have it all; high powered career, kids, husband, friends, sex life, physical perfection, money, home. Enim is certainly desirous... but she admits that she doesn't have it all. In fact, it seems that what Emin has in spades is repetitive, deep-sewn anger. And I'm am increasingly interested in where that came from, not only in Emin, but in women in general. In a time where women can have it all, what are we missing?