LOVE IS WHAT YOU WANT (Tracey Emin at the Hayward)

Yesterday I went to see Tracey Emin's exhibition at the Hayward. It was amazing.
I was very drawn to how personal her work is and I have always identified with her in that respect, but I don't think, before seeing this exhibit, I realised just how personal it was. Diary entries became works of art, videos showed her interviewing her mother or telling personal life stories.

I was left pretty shocked by one of the videos (about one of her abortions) and still have not got my head around how I feel about it. Prehaps it was meant to shock, but it seemed so honest. Afterwards the word which came to my mind for how i felt was traumatized. But that is too strong a word, as what Emin went through was real trauma.

My favourite pieces were the paintings, which were just beautiful and also seemed very natural and emotive. I had thought, previous to going to the show, that I would enjoy the light works the most, however the paintings were fabulous.

I did see some of the most prolific pieces from Emin's career, such as her quilts, and whilst I enjoyed these, they were not the highlight of the exhibition for me. I think I was so blown away by the painting and the video work that they paled in comparison. They were however, part of her early work and it seems as though she has matured enormously over the course of her career.

I am very inspired now and feel very much like painting. I also think I should incorporate writing into my work more, which is a feeling I have had for a while now.

I am still processing how I feel with regards to the abortion video, I don't think I have ever seen anything which has made me feel so uncomfortable, yet intensely interested. I feel morbidly fascinated with the subject, but at the same time horrified.




I went to the exhibit with Tess, you can read her review here:

http://rational-romanticist.blogspot.com/2011/08/tracy-emin-love-is-what-you-want.html