Tracey Emin Launches Instagram Diary for White Cube During Lockdown

London gallery White Cube has launched a digital initiative during the COVID-19 lockdown, inviting artists to share a week-long diary of home-made photos and videos on Instagram. Artistic director Susan May told The Guardian that this approach helps maintain contact with those who help us see the world differently, and that art can help make sense of isolation. Tracey Emin, former Young British Artist, was the first to participate, posting a diary entry on March 26, 2020, with a raw text about fear and desire. Other artists like Antony Gormley and Sarah Morris will follow. The Guardian critic Jonathan Jones described Emin's diary as an optimistic account of solitude and creativity, showing her daily life in Spitalfields, including baths, coffee, and studio walks. In one video, Emin pans across her studio, focusing on a canvas with the text "I wanted you to fuck me so much I couldn't paint anymore." Two days earlier, she posted a photo of the same work without the text, saying she had painted more black and covered it with polythene. Emin is one of many contemporary artists using social media during quarantine; Damien Hirst has posted lighthearted videos about painting, and Kara Walker suggested the book "The Serpent and the Rainbow" by Wade Davis with the hashtag #confinementbookclub.