In My Mind II

In My Mind II was produced in 2014 in conjunction with Emin’s biggest to date exhibition, The Last Great Adventure is You, held at White Cube, London, from October to November 2014. In the exhibition, Emin revisited her previous artistic production and presented works ranging from bronze sculptures to paintings to neon works that, once again, spoke with disheartening honesty to the challenges and losses suffered by the artist. In the artist’s words, the works presented in the exhibition were about “rites of passage, of time and age, and the simple realisation that we are always alone.” This solitary and melancholic undertone of Emin’s reflections is echoed in this artwork, which presents a reclined naked woman. The tentative and sketched quality of the drawing further work to suggest notions of vulnerability and fragility, whilst the title, In My Mind, leaves the viewer to wonder what, or better, who, is occupying the lonely figure’s thoughts.

Additionally, the works speaks to Emin’s long standing admiration for the works of Egon Schiele, who the artist acknowledges as one of her main sources of inspiration, and of Louise Bourgeois, who, in a similar vein to Emin, also attempted to reclaim the female body as a site of conflicts and fears, delusions and hopes.

Through its intimate sense of melancholic longing and awaiting, this work saliently enacts female subjectivity as painstakingly vulnerable and fragile, situating itself in a dialogue with a long art historical tradition.

Through its intimate sense of melancholic longing and awaiting, this work saliently enacts female subjectivity as painstakingly vulnerable and fragile, situating itself in a dialogue with a long art historical tradition.