Iconic Tracey Emin artworks are being shown on billboards around London

If you’ve any interest at all in London art exhibitions, you’ll probably already know that later this month Tate Modern will present the largest ever retrospective of Tracey Emin’s art. The career-defining show is set to be one of the best coming to the capital this year. And in the run-up to opening day, Londoners will be able to spot Emin artworks on walls and buildings across the city.  

Among many other things, the Croydon-born is known for her neon works that share confessional, poetic messages. If you’ve travelled from St Pancras at any point in the past eight years, you’ll have seen at least one of them in the flesh – the huge pink ‘I Want My Time With You’ sign that sits below the clock. 

The artist has been creating neon signs like that since the 1990s. Now, you could spot them in the likes of Lambeth, Croydon, Walthamstow and Tower Hamlets – sort of. Over the next two weeks her neon quotes will be popping up on billboards in 22 different locations across 11 different boroughs. Essentially, it’s a a very good-looking advertising campaign that gives Londoners a small taste of what to expect from the Tate exhibition. 

Look out for poetic declarations like I Whisper to My Past do I Have Another Choice, I Can Feel You Everywhere and More Love, which will be on display across the capital until March 6. You’ll be able to see the neons in real life at Tracey Emin: A Second Life, which opens at the Tate Modern on February 27. 

Did you see that you can watch 50 years of classic TV adverts on huge screens in London this month?

Plus: A cult female artist is getting her biggest ever UK exhibition at Tate Modern this summer.