Crossing Into Darkness, a group exhibition curated by Tracey Emin at Carl Freedman Gallery in Margate, opened on 18 January and runs until 12 April 2026. The exhibition brings together a wide range of artists, from historic figures to contemporary voices, and approaches darkness not as something to be feared but as a necessary passage toward renewal and understanding.

Featuring works by David Altmejd, Georg Baselitz, Louise Bourgeois, Marlene Dumas, Tracey Emin, Laura Footes, Antony Gormley, Francisco Goya, Gilbert & George, Celia Hempton, Anselm Kiefer, Joline Kwakkenbos, Mark Manders, Danielle McKinney, Lindsey Mendick, Juanita McNeely, Edvard Munch, Hermann Nitsch, Janice Nowinski, Anna Pakosz and Johnnie Shand Kydd, the exhibition spans centuries and styles. Together, these artists address the emotional and psychological darkness inherent in human experience, framing it not as an end point but as a threshold that must be crossed.

At the heart of the exhibition is a belief that darkness is both universal and deeply personal. Emin has described the title as “very self-explanatory, especially for the times we are living in,” while also pointing to the private journeys each individual carries. “I feel that we have to cross into darkness to find light,” she says. The exhibition is conceived as an emotionally immersive experience.

The exhibition is arranged by groupings rather than chronologically, allowing works to speak to one another across generations. Themes of memory, the body, vulnerability and psychological intensity recur throughout, linking historic works by artists such as Goya, Munch and Bourgeois with contemporary practices that address similar emotional terrain. Emin’s curatorial approach suggests that darkness is not fixed or singular, but something that shifts across time, culture and personal experience. It resonates with her own personal experience of life.

Installed in the gorgeous spaces of Carl Freedman Gallery, Crossing Into Darkness takes on a particular resonance in its coastal setting. Emin has spoken of her desire for visitors to make a winter journey to Margate, arriving “on the greyest of days with gale-force winds and crashing waves,” framing the visit as a kind of pilgrimage. In this context, the exhibition positions art as something that goes beyond visual experience. As Emin puts it, art “isn’t just something that you look at… it has a deeper purpose and can penetrate all souls.”

More than a response to current anxieties, Crossing Into Darkness proposes art as a companion through periods of uncertainty and transformation.

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Images: Exhibition views, Photography by Ollie Harrop