Tracey Emin

At the time I was supposed to have my photo taken, I was in the middle of installing my show at Oxford. I was also in the middle of a press conference. There were maybe fifty or sixty journalists there—camera crews, photographers, and radio. A number of journalists were quite antagonistic toward me, and I knew that as soon as they left, they were going to stick the knife in. I was really hot, sweating, and on the verge of a panic attack, because it felt like it was touch and go whether I was going to get my show up in time. The last thing I felt like doing was having my portrait taken, but when I did, just having to sit still for two minutes calmed me down and put a smile on my face.