A Map of Days

The four-part etching entitled A Map of Days was conceived as a self-portrait of Grayson Perry. To be more precise, a self-portrait as a fortified town, whose walls could be seen as the artist’s skin. When he was working on this piece, at the end of each day he would note down the date on the precise spot he had come to. The time that passes during the creative process is a metaphor for the process of shaping and reshaping an individual. In Perry’s interpretation, the ‘I’ is not a simple, unchanging thing, but rather a lifelong process, a work in progress. At the centre of the image is an open space. Neither a pearl nor a nexus, the ‘self’ is nothing more than the ever-changing layers of life experiences. In Grayson Perry’s words: ‘My sense of self is a tiny man kicking a can down the road.’