Tracey Emin makes a show of herself in Camberwell

The South London Gallery has mounted an exhibition of the past and the present of Tracey Emin, one of the younger generation of British artists who has gained fame for turning her life (particularly its steamier side) into art. Emin’s new work includes a flock of plaster seagulls swooping across the space and evoking her less than innocent adolescence in Margate, a quilt and a neon love poem, the opening lines of which are, “You put your hand across my mouth but still the noise continues...” At the centre of the gallery which originally showed her work in its “Minky Manky” show in 1995 is a reconstruction of the sealed chamber in which the artist lived and worked during her exhibition with Andreas Brandstrom in Stockholm just over a year ago. On that occasion, visitors peered through fish-eye lenses and observed the artist naked as she created pictures and drawings (see The Art Newspaper No. 56, February 1996, p.31). Described as “Exorcism of the last painting I ever made,” the exterior walls will, for this occasion, be coated in photographs of that peep-show-like performance. During the exhibition, Emin will be conducting a workshop, and making a reading and a new dance set to a soundtrack by Marc Bolan. Until 1 June, South London Gallery, 65 Peckham Road, London, SE5 8UH, tel. +44 (0)171 703 6120.