The Essex House Tapestries: The Life of Julie Cope

The Essex House Tapestries: The Life of Julie Cope are a pair of large-scale tapestries by Grayson Perry, winner of the Turner Prize in 2003. They were acquired by Crafts Council for its national collection of contemporary craft in 2016 and have been touring the country ever since.

Julie Cope is a fictional character created by Grayson Perry – an Essex everywoman whose story he has told through the two tapestries and extended ballad presented in the exhibition. The Essex House Tapestries: The Life of Julie Cope (2015) illustrate the key events in the heroine’s journey from her birth during the Canvey Island floods of 1953 to her untimely death in a tragic accident on a Colchester street. Rich in cultural and architectural details, the tapestries contain a social history of Essex and modern Britain that everyone can relate to.

These artworks represent, in Perry’s words, ‘the trials, tribulations, celebrations and mistakes of an average life’. Historically, large-scale tapestry provided insulation for grand domestic interiors; Perry has juxtaposed its associations of status, wealth and heritage with the current concerns of class, social aspiration and taste. To write Julie’s biography, he looked to the English ballad and folktale tradition, narrating a life that conveys the beauty, vibrancy and contradictions of the ordinary individual.

The narrative originated in Perry’s A House for Essex (2012–15) – his most ambitious project to date. Designed by Perry with FAT architects for Living Architecture, and located on the Stour Estuary at Wrabness, this residential secular chapel is dedicated to Julie Cope and serves as the artist’s tribute to the people with whom he grew up.

Born in Chelmsford, Essex, in 1960, Perry is known for his ceramic art, in which traditional decorative forms reveal more complex narratives and irreverent political statements. The Essex House Tapestries: The Life of Julie Cope is the second third work by Perry to be acquired by Crafts Council. They follow the 1997 acquisition of his Mad Kid’s Bedroom Wall Pot (1996) and a jewellery work Reliquary (2016). The tapestries marked a significant development in Perry’s practice, adding to a then-emerging group of contemporary social portraiture and co-produced digital textile works in Crafts Council Collection.

The exhibition toured for the first time in 2022, with a bespoke and playful exhibition design that referred to Perry’s vision of the secular chapel. A Young Visitors’ Guide learning hand out with activities for families and an interactive app to explore the tapestries were also part of the touring offer.

The tapestries are available for loan, bookable in 8-12 week slots. For more information contact the Exhibitions team

Purchase supported by the Art Fund, Maylis and James Grand, Victoria Miro and other private donors.