Paperfolk Loves... Tracey Emin

Tracey Emin is an artist i'm very fond of. For those of you who are unfamiliar with her work she is an English artist who uses a variety of medium in work including neon signs, embroideries, screenprints and sculpture. She was part of a group of artists known as the YBAs (Young British Artists), a group that included Damien Hirst and Sarah Lucas. In 1997 she became famous for a work titled Everyone I Have Ever Slept With (1963-1995) . The work was a tent, appliqued with names of anyone she had ever shared a bed with.

Despite having embroidered since I was a child it wasn't until I discovered the work of Tracey Emin that I was truly inspired to use embroidery in my artwork. Before this, I looked at embroidery as a hobby that I enjoyed doing but it was often quite traditional motifs and there wasn't a lot of contemporary artists that I knew of doing this type of work. Bearing in mind that the internet wasn't something that everyone had access to, it was much more difficult to come across truly inspiring works. Emin was in the newspaper and in everyone's face- I was hooked!

Emin's work came back into mind because of a new show that opened in the White Cube, London. The show titled, The Last Great Adventure is You, looks to be an amazing body of work and I can't wait to see it.

Here are some past works of Emin's that were a great inspiration to me as a young 19 year old art student...