A series of self-portraits created by Tracey Emin following major cancer surgery has renewed critical attention on how artists depict illness, disability and bodily trauma through autobiographical work, drawing comparisons with the intensely personal paintings of Frida Kahlo.

Among the works attracting renewed discussion is a photographic self-portrait Emin took after being diagnosed with squamous cell bladder cancer in 2020. In the image, the artist photographs herself in a hospital mirror while partially shielding her chest with an iPhone.

The composition also shows medical devices associated with her treatment, including a catheter and urostomy bag, following surgery that resulted in the removal of several organs, including her bladder, uterus, ovaries and parts of her colon and vagina.The image has been interpreted by critics and viewers as part of Emin’s longstanding practice of confronting audiences with physical vulnerability and intimate bodily realities.

Despite the medical context, the work is marked by direct visual confrontation rather than retreat, continuing themes that have shaped Emin’s career since the 1990s.Following surgery, Emin publicly rejected attempts to frame her work primarily through the lens of confession or personal disclosure.

In interviews conducted after her treatment, she described her body and its changes as something fully under her own ownership and artistic control. Her comments reflected a broader resistance to the idea that depictions of illness by women artists must be understood as acts of apology, shame or emotional exposure.

Emin’s recent paintings have continued this engagement with mortality, chronic illness and recovery. Her 2023 work I watched Myself die and come alive depicts her body stretched across a table beneath the looming presence of death, while her mother’s ashes appear nearby in a casket.

Another painting, Barbed Wire Stitches from 2024, centres on surgical sutures and post-operative wounds, using distorted bodily imagery to foreground the physical consequences of illness.

The works formed part of a major exhibition at Tate Modern, where critics noted the continued intensity of Emin’s autobiographical style nearly three decades after My Bed brought her widespread international recognition.

Emin has frequently challenged the term “confessional art,” a label often attached to her work during the 1990s. In recent discussions with Maria Balshaw, the artist argued that her work was never intended as confession, but rather as a direct articulation of lived experience independent of audience expectations.

Art historians have increasingly situated Emin’s approach within a longer tradition of autobiographical female artists whose work engages directly with pain, disability and reproductive trauma. Comparisons with Kahlo have become especially prominent due to similarities in how both artists used self-representation to examine bodily suffering without idealisation.

Kahlo’s artistic practice was profoundly shaped by a 1925 bus accident in Mexico City that caused multiple life-altering injuries, including damage to her spine, pelvis and reproductive organs. During her lengthy recovery, her family installed a mirror above her bed, allowing her to paint self-portraits while immobilised. The experience became foundational to her artistic identity.

Works such as My Birth and The Broken Column depicted childbirth, miscarriage, chronic pain and bodily fracture in stark and often unsettling visual terms. In The Broken Column, Kahlo portrayed her torso split open to reveal a damaged classical column in place of a spine, visually linking physical injury with emotional endurance and religious symbolism.

Kahlo biographer Hayden Herrera wrote in 1983 that Kahlo’s work possessed an intensity capable of holding viewers “in an uncomfortably tight grip,” a description that has also been applied to Emin’s art. Both artists resisted conventional expectations surrounding feminine beauty and bodily privacy, instead foregrounding injury, blood, scars and medical intervention as central subjects.

Emin has publicly acknowledged Kahlo’s influence on her thinking about art and suffering. In a 2005 essay, she reflected on the repeated personal tragedies that shaped Kahlo’s life, including miscarriage and chronic illness, and questioned how different circumstances might have altered the Mexican artist’s trajectory.

For contemporary audiences, the renewed attention surrounding Emin’s post-cancer works coincides with broader conversations in art institutions about disability representation, chronic illness and the visibility of medical realities within contemporary culture.

Curators and critics have increasingly highlighted how artists such as Emin and Kahlo transformed private physical suffering into public artistic language without seeking sentimentality or reassurance.The continuing relevance of both artists also reflects changing attitudes toward representations of women’s bodies in pain.

Rather than framing illness as something hidden or resolved, their work presents physical vulnerability as inseparable from identity, memory and artistic production.

Kahlo’s retrospective exhibition is scheduled to open at Tate Modern next month, extending institutional focus on autobiographical art practices that centre illness, disability and bodily transformation.

Researchers and clinicians are increasingly examining oral health as a significant factor in wider systemic disease, with emerging evidence linking gum disease and chronic oral infections to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, arthritis and cognitive decline.

The growing body of research is also challenging the longstanding separation between dentistry and mainstream medicine, a divide rooted in the historical development of dentistry as a trade distinct from clinical medicine.

While dentists and physicians continue to train and operate through separate professional systems in many countries, including the United Kingdom, scientists say the biological relationship between oral health and the rest of the body is becoming more difficult to ignore.Steve Kerrigan, professor of precision therapeutics at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences in Dublin, said the mouth functions as a direct pathway into the body’s circulatory and respiratory systems.

The human mouth hosts roughly 700 bacterial species, many of which are harmless under normal conditions but can become problematic when oral hygiene deteriorates.Gum disease remains one of the most common chronic inflammatory conditions globally. In the UK, around half of adults are estimated to experience some form of the disease.

Gingivitis, the early and reversible stage, is typically identified through bleeding during brushing or flossing. Periodontitis, a more advanced form, involves inflammation severe enough to detach teeth from the gums and is considered irreversible.“Gum disease is now classed as a chronic inflammatory condition in its own right,” Kerrigan said, comparing it to illnesses such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and Crohn’s disease.

Research into cardiovascular complications has become one of the most developed areas in the field of oral-systemic health. According to Kerrigan, several studies have shown that a large proportion of patients with cardiovascular disease also exhibit gum disease, although scientists continue to investigate whether oral disease directly causes cardiovascular conditions or acts alongside broader health factors.

One major focus is atherosclerosis, a condition in which cholesterol, fat and calcium accumulate on artery walls and restrict blood flow. Researchers have identified oral bacteria within atherosclerotic plaques, raising questions about whether bacteria from diseased gums contribute directly to plaque formation or become embedded after arterial damage has already occurred.

Scientists have also examined the role of oral bacteria in clot formation. Kerrigan said bacteria entering the bloodstream through bleeding gums or untreated dental infections can interact with platelets, the blood components responsible for clotting. That interaction may trigger the formation of clots capable of obstructing blood vessels.

“When these bacteria bind to platelets, it causes them to stick together the exact same way as when you cut yourself,” Kerrigan said. He added that clots reaching vessels in the brain may contribute to transient ischemic attacks or strokes, while clots affecting coronary circulation can increase heart attack risks.The same bacterial mechanisms have also been associated with infective endocarditis, a potentially serious condition involving inflammation of the heart’s inner lining and valves.

Patients with replacement heart valves have long received preventative antibiotics before invasive dental procedures because oral infections are already recognised as a source of bloodstream infection.Diabetes has emerged as another area where oral health appears closely connected to wider metabolic function.

Researchers increasingly describe the relationship as bidirectional. Chronic gum inflammation may interfere with blood sugar regulation, while persistently elevated glucose levels in diabetic patients can increase vulnerability to gum disease.A 2025 study cited by researchers found that patients undergoing root canal treatment experienced reductions in blood sugar, cholesterol and fatty acid levels after infected dental pulp was removed and sealed.

The findings suggested that treatment of severe dental infection could have broader metabolic benefits beyond preserving teeth.Kerrigan said mortality risks are significantly higher among patients who experience both diabetes and advanced gum disease compared with diabetic patients without severe periodontal problems.

Researchers are also investigating potential links between oral inflammation and degenerative or inflammatory conditions affecting other parts of the body. Studies referenced by Professor Kang found statistical associations between gum disease and worsening arthritis symptoms, particularly among patients with arthritic knees.

Kang said poor oral health can also affect psychological wellbeing and social behaviour. Pain, visible dental deterioration and chronic inflammation may reduce confidence and increase social withdrawal, while medications used to manage broader health conditions can reduce saliva production and further damage oral health.“Everything is interlinked,” Kang said.Researchers caution, however, that many findings remain based on population-level statistical analysis rather than direct prediction for individuals.

Experts stress that the existence of associations between oral disease and other illnesses does not mean isolated symptoms necessarily indicate severe future illness.“It does not apply to individuals,” Kang said, adding that occasional bleeding while brushing should not automatically be interpreted as evidence of future dementia or major disease.

The debate over oral health is unfolding amid mounting concerns over access to dental care, particularly in the UK’s National Health Service system. The government’s most recent oral health survey, published in 2021, found that around one-quarter of adults with natural teeth reported damaged, cracked or broken teeth, fillings or crowns.

At the same time, shortages of NHS dental appointments have led to reports of patients delaying treatment, self-medicating or attempting to remove damaged teeth themselves.Researchers say tooth loss may also alter the mouth’s microbiome, potentially affecting digestion and wider biological processes.

Kerrigan noted that oral bacteria play a role in the early stages of digestion, making long-term disruption to the oral environment a broader health concern.Dental specialists continue to emphasise basic preventive measures as the most effective strategy for reducing risks associated with oral disease.

Regular brushing, flossing and limiting sugar intake remain central recommendations.Kerrigan said electric toothbrushes with rotating heads may improve plaque removal compared with manual brushing. He also warned that frequent snacking on sugary foods can increase bacterial growth and accelerate gum and tooth damage.

Scientists say oral health should be viewed as part of broader preventive healthcare rather than as an isolated cosmetic issue.

Researchers note that individuals maintaining strong overall health habits often also demonstrate better oral hygiene practices, reflecting what they describe as an increasingly interconnected understanding of human health.