Nine days before lockdown in London, a Tracey Emin retrospective opened at the Royal Academy. Emin thought it might be her last. She had been diagnosed with bladder cancer. “I’m in chronic pain,” she wrote in the aftermath of major surgery. “I swear to god that there’s not a single part of my body that doesn’t hurt.” During her stay in the hospital, Emin took photographs and kept records. While regaining her strength, she created self-portraits that documented her suffering and recovery. The art asked some intimate questions: What happens to one’s sexuality during illness? And what of your relationship with your body? This exhibition presents work from 2007 to the present. What changed? What stayed the same? —Elena Clavarino