Art and Narrative

“Narrative has been replaced by a multiplicity of narratives- ones that may overlap but not necessarily coincide.” (Art and Today, Introduction)

At the beginning of ‘Art and Narrative’ the progression of narrative from Renaissance to Contemporary art is explained. During the Renaissance period, narrative in art reflected Ancient Greek and Roman mythological or biblical stories. These tales were used to emphasise the morals and belief system of the period. During the Modernist period there was a rebuke against the narrative (along with everything else), and an attempt to make art “a purely optical experience”, as opposed to a story, and therefore a literary experience.

The narrative was reintroduced to art with the birth of Feminism, Pop Art and Performance Art. However, Post Modern and Contemporary artists opted for ‘micro-narratives’, choosing to concentrate on the smaller picture; varying from the inane and banal details of everyday life to stories of political and social injustice.

Trace Emin, a member of the YBA’s (“A group of young artists with a […] grasp of the aesthetics of provocation [that] emerged in the late 1980’s in London.”) is well renowned for her almost painfully autobiographical works that often recall any number of past sexual encounters. Emin’s works, whether they be neon (I will wait for you), appliqué (psyco slut), installation (Everyone I’ve Ever Slept With, My Bed) or {monographs (or is it lithographs- check that out) (I feel beautiful etc. Check your book OK?) Emin’s deeply personal and “no- holds- barred” works will draw on her “personal history and love life.”


"My Bed"
Emin's "My Bed" implies the narrative of an entire life-story- sex relationships, heartbreak (and in the case of the Japanese installation, in which a noose hung above the bed, suicide)- but only in one moment. It's like a 'snapshot' of a continuing narrative.


"Helter Fucking Skelter"
"The highly verbal (and vocal) characteristics of Emin's work suggests a loss, a gap that is repeatedly filled with words and discarded feminine speech." (The Art Of Tracey Emin, 27)

Still from "Why I Never Became A Dancer"
While Emin's works are often compared to the feminist art of the 70's, that used autobiographical techniques to explore gender roles, Emin's insistence of the specifity of her experience, such as it's time and location, alienates the social or political context in which gender is explored.
"A constant return to and refiguring of the past" (The Art Of Tracey Emin, 29)

Emin Website