About the Work
This two-part work by artist Tracey Emin features an embroidered red rosebud beside a paper with handwritten text which ends with the words, "You say our father is a Western Oriental Gentleman." Tracy Emin’s own father, though living in England, was of Turkish-Cypriot origin. This duality of identity, as well as his periodic absence from her early life, is a source from which Emin has drawn upon many times in her art, which is often autobiographical and always candid.
About the Artist
Tracey Emin is a notable and prolific British artist recognized for her place in the Young British Artists Movement of the 1990s, and in particular for her provocative and controversial works such as Everyone I have ever slept with 1963-1995 and My Bed, which was on display at London's Tate Modern gallery as part of her nomination for a Turner Prize in 1999.
As illustrated in these works and others, Tracey Emin explores very personal and sometimes turbulent childhood experiences and sexual history in her art which is often described as confessional. These sources are reflected very literally, creating strikingly autobiographical pieces, the titles of which convey exactly what the viewer sees without veiling the works in metaphor or symbolism. She works in a wide variety of media including neon lighting, needle point, and photography.
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