And, for once, she's keeping it to herself. By the end of Strangeland, we are no closer to understanding the extraordinary metamorphosis which transformed the abused little girl from Margate into one of the art world's brightest stars. When did she turn to it and why? There is a fleeting mention of the 'emotional suicide' she suffered in 1992, when she destroyed all her paintings and started producing the confessional art which made her name.īut the events which prompted her breakdown, and inspired her creative rebirth, remain a mystery. Tracey Emin's STRANGELAND is her own space, lying between the Margate of her childhood, the Turkey of her forefathers and her own, private-public life in present-day London. Her art, for a start, is hardly touched on. For one so open and confessional, there are some glaring omissions. At its best, it shows flashes of insight and originality: 'As we drove from the sea, the land became a rolling mass of drunken hills.' But the most interesting thing about this book is what it doesn't tell us about Tracey Emin. The quality of Emin's writing is another nice surprise. But after the uneasy squalor of her childhood in Margate, it comes as a relief. It ain't very rock'n'roll - they pick olives, go to the seaside and exchange family gossip. The middle section of the book takes place in Turkey, where she finds some kind of peace exploring her roots and bonding with her estranged father. Although known as a visual artist, Tracey Emins confessional writings have always formed the backbone to her work and in 2005 she published her memoir. While her best-known art has shown Emin at her most confrontational, in her writing, we meet a calmer, more sensitive soul. And it describes, movingly, how she was left holding a dead foetus in the back of a London taxi five days after her botched abortion.īut the real revelations here are of a gentler kind. It details with some relish her stinking flat, her alcoholism and her wanking habits. It follows her down the dark alley where she was raped, aged 13. Those who do want more detail on all the best-known Emin myths won't be disappointed by Strangeland. How much more do we want or need to know? Even her grubby sheets have been on display at the Tate. She has made exhibitions out of the sexual abuse she suffered as a child, her abortion and her darkest feelings of loss, self-doubt and betrayal.
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