In February and March 2001, she was artist-in-residence in Cape Town at the South African National Gallery, where she developed her work for the Venice Biennale 2001 curated by Harald Szeemann.

Always evident in her work is the artist's insistence in confronting the politics of identity, including sexual, racial, and gender-based themes.

According to Sue Williamson,[4] "Tracey Rose is not a practitioner who jumps at every curatorial opportunity offered her, and has been known to withdraw from more than one exhibition if the circumstances have not seemed right."

Recent solo exhibitions include The Cockpit at MC, Los Angeles, California, Plantation Lullabies at the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa, both in 2008.

Recent group exhibitions include El mirall sud-africà at the Centre De Cultura Contemporània De Barcelona, Spain, Mouth Open, Teeth Showing: Major Works from the True Collection at the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle, Memories of Modernity in Malmo, Sweden, Check List: Luanda Pop at the African Pavilion in the 52nd Venice Biennale, Italy, Heterotopias at the Thessaloniki Biennale in Greece, and Global Feminisms at The Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art in Brooklyn, New York (all in 2007), and the 11th Lyon Biennale A terrible beauty is born in 2011.