Print for a Politician presents an imaginary land divided into zones populated by forests, rocks and twisted spires. Tiny, spidery handwriting reveals labels of faux demographic groups from 'agnostics' and 'provincials', to 'homosexuals' and 'Scientologists'. Grayson Perry is interested in the superficial labels that we and the media apply to each other. Underpinning the artificiality of the labels, Perry does not want us to read too much into where and how he has placed them. He revealed that while working on Print for a Politician he ‘...harboured a fantasy of it hanging in a minister's office, helping him to temper any prejudices he may have'. A modern take on political satire, the print was partly inspired by the ‘Mappa Mundi’, the famous English medieval map that reveals a 13th-century interpretation of the world in spiritual and geographical terms.
GRAYSON PERRY (British, 1960)
Etching, three plates
71 x 243cm
Acquired in 2006
