Laying with the Olive Trees' (2011) uses the repeated motif of the olive tree to bring a sense of life to the female figure lying in a state of deathly repose. Perhaps her thoughts drift to the rolling hills of olive groves in her much-visited Turkish-Cypriot homeland, or maybe Provence, where the artist often spends her summers. Emin describes the landscape as "a dream-like place - a cross between a desert and an ocean."

Emin's nudes and self-portraiture are depicted by quick, lyrical sketches that capture immediate emotional states. She approaches her subjects with raw honesty, focusing on fundamental themes of love, desire, and loss drawn from her life experiences, using soul-searching candour to probe the construct of self.