Tracey Emin
Me and My Twin - Paul - 1975, 1994
Monoprint on paper
A monoprint is a unique, one-off print created by applying paint or printing ink to a sheet of glass or metal and pressing it onto paper. Monoprints are the backbone of Emin’s practice as an artist. They’re perfectly suited to the immediacy of expression that characterises her work, requiring rapid execution and a bold, fearless approach. They work as a stream-of-consciousness, with an intimate, confessional quality. Several are held by the Tate. To find one made this early that explores one of her most important relationships is very special.
As with so much of her work, this piece is concerned with memory and the loss of innocence. Emin was raped at the age of thirteen, an event that marked the abrupt end of her childhood. By dating this image to 1975 (when she was twelve) she captures an emotional reality that was soon to vanish.
The artist had an incredibly close bond with her twin brother Paul and he appears repeatedly in her work. This piece was made at a really important moment in her career. Her first solo exhibition ‘My Major Retrospective’ at White Cube in autumn 1993 had put her firmly on the map. During one traumatic week in 1994 she underwent major dental work, split up with her boyfriend and had an abortion. These disastrous events inspired a large series of works that were exhibited together in 1995 as “A Week from Hell”. Although our print is not part of this series, it was made close to this defining moment in Emin’s story.
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