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It feels like the exhibition the Turner Contemporary was built for
It feels like the exhibition the Turner Contemporary was built for

Tracey Emin’s homecoming exhibition is not just a landmark for the artist, it could be a crucial turning point for Margate. Chris Price reports.

It feels like the exhibition the Turner Contemporary was built for.

Tracey Emin, Margate’s most famous daughter, has finally come home to display a collection of her art in the town where she grew up, at the gallery she supported from the off.

There has been much publicity about Tracey’s affection for her hometown and her long-standing mission to help it rise from the flickering neon lit gloom of its post-1960s slump.

It feels like the exhibition the Turner Contemporary was built for
It feels like the exhibition the Turner Contemporary was built for

Its donkey rides, clunking slot machines and kissing on the beach hold for Tracey the same innocent beauty which JMW Turner saw in its sunsets. This new exhibition is another example of her unwavering dedication to turn Margate’s naff image into serious tourist credentials.

Tracey’s exhibition, She Lay Down Deep Beneath the Sea, holds all the same themes of love, sex and romanticism which has dominated her work since she announced herself with her piece Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963 to 1995 at the Royal Academy in London in 1997.

It feels like the exhibition the Turner Contemporary was built for
It feels like the exhibition the Turner Contemporary was built for

And in the same way her Turner Prize nominee My Bed put her on the tabloid map in 1999, Tracey is laying her whole life to bare more than ever in this latest collection of works, tailored specially for Thanet’s flagship seaside destination.

For this exhibition marks a crucial turning point for Tracey, 48, and the town she loves so dearly. These scribbly, haunting female figures and slogans – “I SAID NO” – will be the proof of whether the message has finally got through.

The Turner Contemporary has done exceptionally well since Tracey’s last notable appearance in Margate, was when she opened the gallery in 2011. It contributed £14m to the Kent economy in its first year and is already the third biggest attraction in the county. Around half a million visitors walked through its doors in that time. It had hoped for 156,000.

It feels like the exhibition the Turner Contemporary was built for
It feels like the exhibition the Turner Contemporary was built for

Yet has it been preaching to the converted? Art lovers are always going to be fascinated by a new gallery, especially one in such an unusual setting, in such a striking building. Margate was a novelty then for the city-dwelling art aficionados.

So cue the big hitter, Tracey Emin, a figure in the Champions League of British artists, whose job it is not only to keep the punters coming through the doors of the Turner Contemporary but also to get them eating cockles on the sandy beaches and sipping wine in the Old Town.

This will be the measure of whether it was worth making the dodgy film Top Spot about her childhood in the town. Whether it was worth insisting, when she guest edited Radio 4’s Today programme last year, that the weather man opened his bulletin with a summary of what the outlook was for Margate.

It feels like the exhibition the Turner Contemporary was built for
It feels like the exhibition the Turner Contemporary was built for

When the exhibition was announced, she stuck her neck out. “I want everyone to come to Margate for the summer,” she said. “I want people to come off the train, see the show and then go and have an ice cream on the beach.”

She Lay Down Deep Beneath The Sea is the pinnacle of her love affair with Margate. This is the outcome of all her campaigning and all those hours she spent creating artworks that have looked so deeply inside her relationship-scarred soul.

Has it all been worth it? My instinct is yes.

Tracey Emin
Tracey Emin

A bit of Fry and Emin

Another plus about being a big hitter in the art world, is you can get big hitters in the comedy world to hang out with you.

Tracey Emin will be interviewed by Stephen Fry at a talk at the Turner Contemporary on Friday, June 22. A wine reception precedes the discussion from 6pm.

Those who cannot get tickets can see it broadcast live online at www.thespace.org Tickets £20, including wine. Call 01843 233000.

She Lay Down Deep Beneath The Sea runs at Margate’s Turner Contemporary until Saturday, May 26 to Sunday, September 23. Admission free. Call 01843 233000.

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