'I started this work with the innocuous desire to make a large landscape tapestry. I have always enjoyed the in-between places or 'edgelands' as they have become fashionably known. The imaginary place I have depicted is not unlike the landscape of Essex where I lived as a young child. The layered quality of the image harks back to some of my earliest sketchbook paintings made whilst at art college. I was about half way through making this work when I realized I was unconsciously drawing a transcription of one of my favourite paintings, Battle of Britain by Paul Nash. Having yet again acknowledged the power of the unconscious I continued with the work, playing up the associations and weaving in references to the current conflicts within our society.'

Grayson Perry