Tracey Emin Made a Dame in King’s Birthday Honours
'People like me don't become dames, unless you're a sportsperson,' Emin said.
Tracey Emin, There was A moment when I believed (2024). Acrylic on canvas182.2 x 214.1 x 3.5 cm. Courtesy the artist and Xavier Hufkens.
British artist Tracey Emin was honoured with a damehood in the King's Birthday Honours announced on Friday 14 June.
'I've had the strangest most brilliant week .. one good thing after another,' she posted on Instagram. 'I feel so loved .. so happy .. Thank you everyone for all your lovely messages. There is a lot more I can say .. so much more in me to give. All my love Dame Tracey.'
Born in London in 1963, Emin grew up in the seaside town of Margate. She received an MA in painting from the Royal College of Art and became one of the Young British Artists (YBAs), alongside the likes of Damien Hirst, Jake & Dinos Chapman, and Sarah Lucas.
Emin catapulted to stardom with the confessional works Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995 (1995) and My Bed (1998), which she showed at the Tate as a nominee for the 1999 Turner Prize.
Emin has since pivoted towards drawing, painting, and sculpting.
She was diagnosed with bladder cancer and underwent a major surgery in 2020. Now, she has been clear of cancer for four-years.
'When you've had cancer to the level that I had, where you really think you're probably going to die and you're looking at months ahead of you to live—and then suddenly everything turns around, it's like being born again and life starts again and all these really amazing things happen,' she told BBC.
Emin said she didn't consider turning down the honour, in part because 'it gives me a louder voice to do the things that I think are important.' —[O]
