Map of Nowhere

In what I hope will be a charming antidote to the previous Essex blog, I am going to tell you about that time I went to a lecture at the British Library about maps.

No really.

The British Library is currently exhibiting 'Magnificent Maps - Power, Propaganda and Art'. Unsurprisingly, it was not I, but Alan Deeks, who was the catalyst behind this particular jolly, and it is testament to my love for him that I went along with it so amiably. To sweeten this somewhat bitter pill, Cindy Deeks booked us tickets to a two hour map lecture afterwards - the sweetener being that Grayson Perry would be speaking.

I love Grayson Perry. I first saw his work when he was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2003 for his pots - the first Potter to ever win, and most probably the last. His work falls somewhere between art and craft - he is a potter, painter, drawer, quilter, sewer. He is an Essex born cross-dressing married father of one. He is impossible to categorise, and would prefer you didn't try. His work is beautiful, witty, relevant and accessible. He is eloquent, fiercely intelligent and cripplingly modest.

Perry spoke about maps and how he has used them as a medium - to organise information, to chart experience, to express a journey. Perry is his own subject, and most of his work, and his maps, are introspective. I've never heard an artist speak about their work in such an honest way before, and this really was an honour and a privilege. I would recommend this exhibition to anyone.

Map of Nowhere

The Walthamstow Tapestry

A tiny section of Perry's Map of an Englishman