Writing about this 2011 work, Perry comments, ‘This is a shrine to integration. Alan Measles represents my maleness whilst Claire is associated with feelings seen as predominately female. Many problems we encounter in society come from an imbalance in the way these two sides of our personalities are dealt with. The figure of a blacksmith on the rear wall refers to marriage and more specifically Gretna Green in Scotland, famous for runaway weddings and its “Anvil priests”. She is female as women are on the whole better at working with feelings.’

Born in Chelmsford, Essex in 1960, Grayson Perry lives and works in London. Winner of the 2003 Turner Prize, he has exhibited in museums worldwide. Major institutional exhibitions in 2020 include The Pre-Therapy Years at The Holburne Museum, Bath, UK (on view until 3 January 2021), the first exhibition to survey works made by the artist between 1982 and 1994. Institutional venues for other recent national and international solo exhibitions include the Monnaie de Paris; Kiasma, Helsinki; The Serpentine Galleries, London; Arnolfini, Bristol; ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Aarhus; Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. Perry has also curated several major exhibitions, most recently the critically acclaimed 250th Summer Exhibition at London’s Royal Academy and The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman at the British Museum, London.