Art as resistance: Reclaiming agency through personal and collective trauma
Original framing: “[Perspectives] Still dancing in defiance” — The Lancet
Emin's art is deeply artistic and spiritual in its expression of trauma and resistance. The piece highlights how art can serve as a spiritual act of reclaiming agency and confronting societal shame.
Tracey Emin's art functions as a multidimensional act of resistance, weaving together personal trauma with systemic critique.
By centering vulnerability as a form of defiance, her work challenges historical and contemporary structures of gendered oppression. The article highlights how artistic expression can serve as a cross-cultural and spiritual tool for reclaiming agency, while also exposing the absurdity of systems that silence marginalized voices. Integrating Indigenous and cross-cultural perspectives, and modeling future pathways through art and policy, can transform individual suffering into collective healing and systemic change.