Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Politics

'Shameful': Tracey Emin asks for her artwork to be removed from 10 Downing Street

The artist said: "More Passion is the last thing this present government needs".

Tracey Emin

Tracey Emin with Boris Johnson in 2010. Image: Isabel Eyre/flickr

Artist Tracey Emin has asked for one of her pieces to be removed from Number 10 Downing Street, saying “the current situation is shameful.”

The Margate-based artist donated a neon artwork saying “More Passion” to the Government Art Collection, but said: “I feel like More Passion is the last thing this present government needs.”

In a post on Instagram, Emin said she was in the process of requesting that the piece be removed.

Emin, who this month told the FT she was “moving fast away from cancer” after a diagnosis in 2020 left her believing she would die, gifted the neon sculpture to the government in 2011.

Her newest venture will see her setting up an art school inside a former bathhouse and mortuary in Margate.

The Big Issue has approached Emin, Number 10 and the Government Art Collection for comment.

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

READER-SUPPORTED SINCE 1991

Reader-supported journalism that doesn’t just report problems, it helps solve them.

Recommended for you

View all
What does Keir Starmer's personality type tell us about him?
Prime minister Keir Starmer on the phone
Psychology

What does Keir Starmer's personality type tell us about him?

There's no trust left in the world. How can we get it back?
Trust

There's no trust left in the world. How can we get it back?

Mad King George or Keir Starmer? Jane Austen fans on the Regency era ideas that can save Britain
Jane Austen

Mad King George or Keir Starmer? Jane Austen fans on the Regency era ideas that can save Britain

Nationalisation, buses and homes for rough sleepers: This is what Andy Burnham's Britain would look like
Andy Burnham with Big Issue vendor Colin
Politics

Nationalisation, buses and homes for rough sleepers: This is what Andy Burnham's Britain would look like

Reader-supported journalism that doesn’t just report problems, it helps solve them.

Every day, Big Issue digs deeper – speaking up for those society overlooks. Will you help us keep doing this work?