Tracey Emin Crisis

If you’re looking for a fantastic exhibition to go to, then it’s got to be the Crisis Commission at the beautiful Somerset House in central London. The one and only, Tracey Emin has donated four pieces of her art to the exhibition which is another good idea to pop in. There’s also many other established contemporary artists as well as work created by the homeless.
In case you did not work out from the title, the exhibition is associated with the well known charity, Crisis, which is dedicated to helping single homeless people. The art pieces are all associated with, guess what? Homelessness.

Homelessness is a topic that is so relevant with the present times right now and more specifically because of the current economic climate. Homelessness could happen to any of us! We see it every day on the streets but I think a lot of us are shy to acknowledge it because of our own fears of it. A lot of us grew up seeing it when we were young so I think it’s a curiosity to us all. 

By the time you’re reading this, the exhibition will be open so I’ll talk in present terms. The exhibition opened on the 14th March and will see it draw its curtains on the 22nd April. That gives just over a month to check it out, so do check it out soon! You’re looking for something to do on your day off? Well I think you should make it eventful for your companion(s) by going along to this. I just think it sounds like one of those “must sees”. There will be an auction shortly after the ending date of the exhibition. It will be held at Christie’s on 3rd May, and will see all of the pieces from the exhibition auctioned off. Proceeds will all being going to Crisis.

Tracey’s four pieces include: two self portraits and two neon signs. One of the neon signs reads, Trust Me and the other reads, Trust Yourself. I think anyone can make their own interpretations from the pieces, and artists as we know have their stories behind their work too. Art can have profound meanings for all.

Trust Me, is a statement similar to alerts such as, help me, and, believe me, things that I’m sure the homeless would like to call out. The word, trust, is so powerful and means so much to people. Trust Me, can be understood to be the biggest cry for help. Trust Yourself, could imply to the homeless that they should not be paranoid, be positive and to look after themselves. One could call out, trust me, but get no answer so instead one has to turn to themselves and this is where, trust me, can come in. It’s like the two statements are cleverly incorporated giving meaningfulness to what the homeless go through. 

The neon signs give a feel of the city lights when it’s dark. Homelessness can happen anywhere but when we often think of it, it takes place in the cities, and this is where most of the homeless are located. The neon work works well. The self-portraits could be related to the concept of isolation and not being able to hide anything, being on show to the world much like homelessness can be. 

Well you’ve read about it here now. When someone asks you next time how your weekend went, I hope you can give them an exciting story and tell them you visited the Crisis Commission exhibition!