Tracey Emin

Family Suite

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About this artwork

The Family Suite monoprints are among the very earliest and most deeply personal of Emin’s works. The series recalls moments from her childhood in Margate where she lived with her family in a hotel run by her father. Family Suite includes images of Emin’s mother lighting up; her father with his briefcase; a haunting self portrait as a ten-year old; the false front teeth she had fitted at the age of twelve, after her brother had accidentally head-butted her; and various images of sex – perhaps showing Emin herself, or scenes she witnessed. The dark, nervous line created by the monoprint technique gives the works something of the directness of children’s’ drawings.

Updated before 2020

  • artist:
    Tracey Emin (born 1963) English
  • title:
    Family Suite
  • date created:
    1994
  • materials:
    Twenty monoprints
  • measurements:
    Each: 11.60 x 10.60 cm (framed 38.20 x 36.80 x 2.90 cm)
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    Purchased with assistance from Art Fund, the Patrons of the National Galleries of Scotland and the Gibson Bequest, 2005
  • accession number:
    GMA 4784
  • gallery:
  • subject:
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Tracey Emin

Tracey Emin