Every Monday on Global Comment, we share Something Special you don’t want to miss. To fit with the six core pillars of the magazine, these will alternate between the themes of watch / listen / read / see / taste / place.
It will be something different every week, but it will always be about something worth seeing, hearing or watching, or a place worth visiting or a food worth tasting.
This week, an interview in the Guardian with artist Tracey Emin is well worth a read. As with many things worth reading, it’s not for the faint hearted (and veers into NSFW territory, including the headline), but she’s a fascinating woman who was much maligned in the industry she has excelled in – against all odds – for decades.
When she was 15, she was effectively forced back to school by social services a couple of days a week, where she mostly sat in the art room, drawing. There, for the first time, she was encouraged, mentored – and she flourished. By sheer force of will, she got herself into art school despite not having O-levels or A-levels, battling people’s low expectations of her all the way. “It took me a long time to get to the Royal College of Art, but I did it. And now, you can’t go to art school unless you’re loaded.”
I wonder if she has any regrets. As one childless woman to another, for example, does she regret not having kids? “I’m really, really, really happy about not having children,” she says. “You know how people are really happy because they have children? I’m really happy because I don’t. And I’ve got lots of young people around me as well, which is really good, people who are creative. And I have really made my life as full as possible, behaving and doing things that someone with children couldn’t do.”
If you have any suggestions for future items to feature, contact us on our socials or at editor@globalcomment.com