Grayson Perry, Head of a Fallen Giant, 2008. Bronze, 15 ¾ x 19 x 13 ¾ in. (40 x 50 x 35 cm), © Grayson Perry Collection of the Artist. Courtesy of the Artist and Victoria Miro, London.
“There has been much talk in the media about national identity. It’s very hard to pin down: there isn’t an instant, easy answer to what Englishness is. We no longer have a clear folk identity, so when we talk about ethnicity it’s always about non-Englishness, about the ‘other’. So I made this piece about England’s past and the giant of maritime power that was the British Empire. It looks like something that’s been dragged out of the sea. I had it cast in bronze to give it the air of an archaeological treasure or an ethnographic artefact, like something you’d find at the British Museum.”
*Grayson Perry’s quote about this artwork (which was used in Boulevard Arts’ VR experience created for Turner Contemporary) is taken from Grayson Perry by Jacky Klein. © 2009 Jacky Klein. Reprinted by kind permission of Thames & Hudson Ltd., London.