I came across this Instagram post from Tracey Emin in the middle of the night — drinking (decaffeinated) tea, drawing, and quietly scrolling on my phone.
She wrote about the aftermath of Frieze Masters — the exhaustion that followed, days spent in bed with chronic flu and infection, and the sense that her “going out days are vastly coming to an end.”
There’s a raw honesty in her words, and a tenderness too. Reading them in my half-awake, foggy-brained state, I felt an immediate recognition — the pull toward stillness, the need to stay close to what matters, to accept the body’s limits and still keep making.
“I want to be cosy and safe, making my work, singing to my cats. The list of priorities has began.”
— Tracey Emin
That line lingers. A reminder that slowing down isn’t necessarily stopping — that work, care, and living can continue quietly, within smaller boundaries. Sometimes the most enduring persistence is simply remaining present.
