The Walthamstow Tapestry, 2009

From site of the Victoria Miro museum: "The Walthamstow Tapestry explores the emotional resonance of brand names in our lives and our quasi-religious relationship to consumerism. Charting man's passage from birth to death, the tapestry is peppered with leading brands encountered along the way. Stripped of their logos and thus much of their identity, the names run alongside - often incongruous - depictions of people going about their everyday lives: walking the dog, nursing children, skateboarding, hoovering, and, of course, shopping. Perry is a great chronicler of contemporary life, in whose work sentiment and nostalgia sit subversively alongside fear and anger. In The Walthamstow Tapestry many of the world's leading names, from luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Tiffany to high street giants such as Marks and Spencer and IKEA, come under Perry's excoriating gaze in this cautionary and prophetic tale of modern day life. Inspired by antique batik fabrics from Malaysia as well as eastern European folk art this vast work provides a colourful, rich and complex visual journey across our contemporary landscape."

From note at Istanbul exhibition: "Walthamstow is an area of North-West London where the artist had a studio for a number of years. It is a typical working-class area on the outskirts of London. Working in the area, Perry noticed that the people around him were becoming increasingly involved in commercial activities such as shopping and this work represents a life cycle [ in spired by the ... Giotto ... Scrovegni Chapel in Padua - of a person who travels through life increasingly exposed to [...] branded goods"