Escape to myself

This was a wonderful exhibition. I’ve always admired her work but I’ve never really engaged with a deeper and more expansive body of her art. This show certainly gave me the opportunity to explore and take a longer considered look. While I have always loved the fluency of her drawing today I was brought up short by her devastating use of colour and the incredible scope of her output; painting, photography, performance, sculpture. I was mesmerised. What struck me most of all was how she herself is her art in a way. It was like being on a journey with her.

She is vulnerable, honest and unabashed. She shares her art and therefore herself with incredible generosity. Love, sex, loss of self-esteem and mental and physical pain are all shown unflinchingly and with a real emotional intelligence through her work. it i at the same time both fragile and intensely powerful.

While wandering through the rooms I felt a huge resonance with the work of Frida Kahlo. There was the same insistence in exploring self through creativity. Frida also suffered physical and mental anguish but made it central to her process not seeking to shy away from those experiences which form us. They can both destroy and rebuild us.

I was thoroughly engrossed by this beautifully curated exhibition. It opened my heart as well as my mind and I left with a profound sense of fulfilment and a deeper appreciation of Tracey Emin’s world.