Don't ask me to be like you
2024
Medium
synthetic polymer paint on canvas
Measurements
182.2 × 120.1 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased with funds donated by Jo Horgan AM and Peter Wetenhall, 2025
© Tracey Emin. All rights reserved, DACS
Gallery location
Not on display
About this work
Tracey Emin rose to prominence in the 1990s as part of the generation known as the YBAs, or Young British Artists, with her autobiographical, confessional work that explores emotions, womanhood and the self. In 2020 Emin was diagnosed with bladder cancer and subsequently underwent surgery. Her works since that time, including Don’t ask me to be like you, reflect her new bodily reality by combining female figures and text. With its handwritten plea to a past lover for individual identity, Don’t ask me to be like you continues to explore the threads of love, desire and loss that have been constants throughout Emin’s career.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
London, England
Inscription
inscribed in pencil l.l.: Dont Ask me to be like you.
inscribed in pencil l.r.: Tr(…illeg.)y Emin 2024
inscribed in pencil on reverse c.l.: TE7650
Accession Number
2025.755
Department
Contemporary Art