Tracey Emin Neons Light Up London
Iconic British artist Tracey Emin's signature neon artworks are lighting up billboards across 22 locations in London in the run-up to her major exhibition at Tate Modern. Her distinctive, confessional texts are transforming the city's visual landscape and making contemporary art an integral part of the urban experience. The billboard campaign brings street-level accessibility to her typically gallery-bound work.
- The billboard campaign, a collaboration with creative street advertising agency Jack Arts, will run for two weeks until March 9, 2026. Poetic phrases such as "I Whisper to My Past do I Have Another Choice" and "I can Feel You Everywhere" can be seen in 11 boroughs including Lambeth, Croydon, and Walthamstow. - This public display precedes Emin's largest-ever exhibition, "A Second Life," which opens at Tate Modern on February 27, 2026. The show will feature over 90 works from her 40-year career, including painting, video, sculpture, and textiles. - The Tate exhibition will include some of her most famous works, such as the 1998 Turner Prize-nominated installation "My Bed," which features her own unmade bed. It will also present new pieces that address her recent battle with bladder cancer. - Emin began creating neon works in the 1990s, drawing inspiration from the bright signage of her seaside hometown of Margate. Her first neon piece was a sign for The Tracey Emin Museum, which she ran from a small shop in London between 1995 and 1997. - This is not Emin's first time displaying neon art in a major public space. Previous installations include "I promise to love you" in New York's Times Square in 2013 and the permanent "I want my time with you" at London's St. Pancras station, installed in 2018. - The upcoming exhibition is sponsored in partnership with Gucci and will also feature early works like "Why I Never Became a Dancer" (1995), a video in which she recounts traumatic events from her teenage years.
