In the 1990s, the UK was in the grip of Cool Britannia and London was the centre of its universe. Britpop ruled the radio, Kate Moss ruled the catwalks – and a collection of new graduates made huge waves in the art world.

Find out more about the YBAs (Young British Artists), their work and their enduring careers below. And, if you would like to see more work by the artists featured, please get in touch with us.

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The original YBA made waves with his exhibition Freeze, which took place while he was still studying at Goldsmiths. A favourite with impresario Charles Saatchi, who put the group of artists on the wider map with his controversial 1997 Sensation exhibition, Hirst soon became best known for his animals in formaldehyde as well as his spot paintings.

Starting her career with ‘confessional’ works linked to her troubled youth, Emin became famous for her tent (Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995) and unmade bed (My Bed). Subsequently, though, she has become one of Britain’s best-loved artists, renowned for her large-scale paintings and sculptures of the female form.

Famously never receiving his MA from the Royal College of Art after submitting a white room containing only a Blue Plaque about himself as his final degree work, Turk nevertheless went on to become a key figure on the YBA scene. Working with paint, sculpture and installation, Turk has latterly made a series of well-received public works.

Turner Prize winning Whiteread became known for her casts of the inside of things – from the spaces under chairs to the huge, condemned House in east London. Her work – including a haunting Holocaust Memorial in Vienna’s Judenplatz and a delicate frieze on the facade of the Whitechapel Gallery adorned with gold leaf – is visually arresting and thought-provoking.

Two super successful worlds collided in 2006, when Quinn created his lifesize bronze of Kate Moss is a contorted yoga pose. Quinn had already drawn attention to his sculptural work with Alison Lapper Pregnant, a marble depiction of the disabled artist Alison Lapper that sat atop Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth. But he’s perhaps best known for his sculpture of his own head, made in his blood and repeated every five years.

Behind one of the most controversial works in Sensation, Harvey catapulted to fame as the man behind the iconic mugshot of Moors Murderer Myra Hindley, recreated using children’s handprints. Recently, he’s received acclaim for his work focusing on the essence of Britishness.