Tracy Emin, the artist, is in soulful mood on the brink of her first New York exhibition in eight years. Diagnosed with cancer three years ago she underwent major surgery leaving her without a bladder, lymph nodes, half of her vagina and part of her intestines. In an interview she said ‘I’ve always been alone. I really hope to find a soulmate before the end.’
Known as the enfant terrible of the Young Brit Art scene, she was born 3 July 1963 at 6.50am London with an unwed mother of Romani traveller descent and a Turkish-Cypriot father who had another family. She left school at 13 and said she was raped at 13. Her work has been analysed in terms of childhood abuse and assault. She later had two traumatic abortions and went through a suicidal phase.
She came to public attention in 1997 when her work Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995, a tent appliquéd with names, was shown at Charles Saatchi’s Sensation in London. Two years later she won the Turner Prize with her installation My Bed – consisting of her own unmade dirty bed with used condoms and blood-stained underwear.
She has a creative 12th house Cancer Sun trine Neptune in her 4th house with an emotionally intense Scorpio Moon also in her 4th which rules home and childhood. Her Moon squares an 8th house Saturn which in turn is trine Venus Mercury in Gemini – so not much emotional nurturing.
Her chaotic and turbulent life will be partly linked to a volatile collection of Uranus Pluto and Mars in Virgo, with assertive Mars in her 3rd. This is offset by a talented, lucky Jupiter in her 10th which suggests growing respect for her abilities the older she gets. And given that her Jupiter is on the apex of a Yod to Mars sextile Neptune she has the potential to be influential out in society – as long as she keeps her ego and grandiosity under control.
She does have her Progressed Moon moving through her 7th house for another year which will make the lack of a partner more poignant. And her Progressed Venus is conjunct her Pluto also over coming months which will make her emotional reactions and yearning more intense. Tr Neptune square her Venus until late this December will being romantic dreams though perhaps also disappointment. Her Solar Arc Venus is opposition her Saturn this year which will also heighten her sense of being cut off from a supportive relationship.
A different chart to Barbra Streisand but the same dilemma – all the success in the world and what they really want is a meaningful emotional connection.
It reminds me of a friend, now gone, also with Saturn in the 8th who was extra keen to find a soulmate and yet everyone she lighted on through dating apps was discarded as not right. She passed away without ever finding what you needed. Not that Saturn in the 8th is necessarily partnerless – I have known long marriages in individuals who have it but it does seem to give a sense of never quite finding the depth of intimacy they would like.
Add On: Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, born 6 July 1907 8.30am Coycacan, Mexico had a fairly similar chart and an extraordinarily dramatic life with mind boggling health problems. She contracted polio as a young child and then had a bus accident in her late teens, which broke a vertebrae, her pelvis, ribs, legs, feet and a handrail pierced her abdomen and uterus. She had 35 operations in later years and was in constant pain throughout her life. She married Diego Rivera, another Mexican painter, who supported her talent, who was 20 years older and obese. She was bi-sexual and both had multiple affairs.
She was a Sun Neptune Jupiter in Cancer opposition a 5th house Uranus Mars in Capricorn – so volatile, explosive, highly strung, showy, full of initiative but constantly pulled in opposite directions. Her 8th house Saturn in Pisces was trine a Cancer North Node, sextile Moon MC in Taurus; and Saturn was also square Pluto Venus in Gemini.
Her 10th house Moon in Taurus would be the saving of her, bringing a public career that involved a tactile medium and involved a love of all things botanical. Her Venus close to Pluto and square Saturn suggests an emotional life both passionate and cold and inclined to promiscuity. She had affairs with everyone from Josephine Baker to Leon Trotsky.
She died aged 47, perhaps of an accidental overdose though she was in worsening health having had a leg amputated.
I read a recent interview with the artist and it made a huge impression on me. I’ve been thinking about it a lot since then. So I’m delighted to see Marjorie’s take on her chart and life.
https://www.vulture.com/article/tracey-emin-interview-lovers-grave.html
“When you’ve been seriously ill and you come out the other side, you really don’t fuck around anymore, ever.”
This has so many layers! Thanks Marjorie, I’ve been wondering about Tracy Emin. Such a powerful artist, and inspiring woman. Thanks too for VirgoFlake’s art knowledge, and Marjorie for Frida Kahlo’s details here.
It is also interesting to see that remarkable artist Artemisia Gentileschi was a Sun Cancer trine Mars, with Scorpio Moon. 8th July, 1593. Her rape trial is quite well known, but she was tortured during it to check if she was telling the truth as revealed by transcripts of the trial.
Amongst other things, I noticed that she had a Sun, Pluto, Jupiter t-square. Pluto is 17 Aries, conjunct Emin’s natal Jupiter 17 Aries, which in turn squares her Nodes, 20 Cancer/Capricorn. She had, I think, six children with only one surviving to adulthood, sadly quite a common story in those days.
Carmel, as a twin with Cancer Sun and Moon in Scorpio I think you may be spot on. Attachment and abandonment are themes that have played out time and again for me, although now mostly resolved. I always feel moved by Tracey’s expression of hope and pain.
I really like Tracey. I love her for her refreshing honesty. If you haven’t seen interviews with her, they’re worth watching. When I was at uni in the early 80s, I had a part time job in an amazing bookshop (Turret Bookshop owned by Bernard Stone) – Tracey was still at art school – but she was friends with Bernard and used to come in a lot…well known (slightly inebriated) authors used to hang out there and she cut a deal with them: she’d write them a letter each month for £10 and then they could sell them and make a profit when she became a famous artist! I think she got enough to cover her rent each month!
‘…… then they could sell them and make a profit when she became a famous artist!’
This shows a belief and a confidence where she either predicted her success or she pre-ordained it. Either way sometimes you just know what you know. Love it!!
I love it too. The guy who owned the bookshop used to joke that Tracey wanted to be a famous artist, but would always add that he somehow had a feeling she would be!
I have Saturn in the 8th square Mars in the 5th and Chiron in the 11th. All I have wanted, since I was a girl, was to be happily married. I feel my life is jinxed in this respect, and now being over 60, there is little hope.
Remember what Stephen Hawking said: “Where there’s life, there’s hope.”
Thank you, Marjorie. So many great artists are Sun in Cancer, because it is the sign of birthing, of creativity. The surgery Emin underwent must have been traumatic and life-changing for her. For me, there is something of Frida Kahlo about her, the confessional, intimate art which comes from a place of physical and psychological torment is common to both women artists. Kahlo was born to a German father and a ‘mestiza’ mother – a mother of mixed heritage, so it is interesting that Emin’s mother was Romani. Kahlo was involved in a bus accident at 18 and as a result sustained a broken spinal column, collar bone, ribs, pelvis a fractured leg. An iron handrail went through her pelvic cavity, puncturing her abdomen, vagina and uterus. She wore a body brace for the rest of her life.
Kahlo also had Saturn in the 8th and a Mars/Uranus conjunction in Capricorn. Her relationship with artist, Diego Rivera was never satisfactory but marred by his infidelities, though she too had affairs. Like Emin, Kahlo was a Cancer Sun with Leo Rising and her Venus/Pluto conjunction was squared by that 8th house Saturn. Her Mars/Uranus was in the 5th – perhaps a marker for the terrible accident which tore through her body. She never had children and died only in her 40s.
Emin is becoming one of our great British artists whose work will endure. But it’s strange, without wanting to come across as romantically mawkish, it often occurs to me just how much of a heavy price women artists paid and indeed still pay for their gift when compared to men, in terms of finding a life partner and emotional fulfilment. I wish her all the best.
I had read this post just after Marjorie put it up…. then moved on to my day.
Had the thought that she reminded me of Frida Kahlo!!…. more raw?.. and was going to comment about this!
Thanks for posting this realization in detail VF!
and yes… to your comments about women artists.
sigh.
Speaking of love and partnership, I saw yesterday many articles regarding Whitney Wolfe Herd. She might be an interesting topic to elucidate.
Tracey has a twin brother Paul. I wonder if being a cancerian with her sun in the twelfth would mean she’d feel the physical separation from the womb and from her twin as they left that space really deeply?