Grayson Perry: A Temple for Everyone

25 Sep 2024-2 Mar 2025

Overview

Explore the meaning of ‘home’ through the work of Grayson Perry, one of Britain’s best-known artists.

From textiles and pots to ceramic tiles and woodcuts, ‘Grayson Perry: A Temple for Everyone’ tells stories of home, asking questions about how those stories shape who we are. How does our definition of home affect our sense of identity? What does it mean to be British today?

The exhibition of over 30 works features elements from Perry’s ‘A House for Essex’ (2015), a secular chapel dedicated to the fictional Essex woman Julie Cope. Through its iconic tapestries, alongside molds and tiles from the house’s construction, discover how Perry crafts a narrative of place and belonging.

Works such as ‘A Map of Days ‘(2013) and ‘Our Town’ (2022) explore how the interests, habits and psychological traits that make up a sense of ‘self’ can be mapped onto towns, reflecting the emotional geography of contemporary society. Other works such as ‘A Shrine to Alan Measles (2007) and ‘Mad Kid’s Bedroom Wall’ (1996) show how Perry incorporates autobiographical elements that reflect his lived experiences of society, particularly those rooted in childhood.

Bloomsbury artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant transformed the house at Charleston into a canvas and sanctuary for their ideas, expressing dreams, friendships, queerness, politics, and creativity. Similarly, Perry reimagines society through art and captures the essence of contemporary life in his work.

‘Grayson Perry: A Temple for Everyone’ invites you to reflect on how the spaces we inhabit shape our stories, identities, and the way we see the world.

This exhibition is part of a season of exhibitions at Charleston in Lewes exploring intersections between art and home, alongside ‘Collecting Modernism: Pablo Picasso to Winifred Nicholson’.
 

Artists