This tapestry by Grayson Perry was created for the television documentary series Grayson Perry: All Man, which explored changing ideas of masculinity in modern Britain. The work was inspired by the Durham Miners’ Gala, a large annual gathering in north-east England that began in the nineteenth century. Originally organised by coal miners’ trade unions, the Gala remains an important celebration of working-class culture.

One of the most significant moments of the Gala takes place in Durham Cathedral, where richly decorated union banners are carried into the church accompanied by brass bands. Perry was struck by the emotional power of this ceremony, describing it as “a funeral for a certain sort of man,” a reflection on the decline of Britain’s mining communities and the traditional male identities associated with heavy industry.

In the tapestry, a miner appears in the upper left, poised as though confronting the boxer positioned opposite him on the right. Between these two figures stands a young boy clutching a teddy bear, possibly representing the artist himself, or a younger generation suspended between dominant models of masculinity. Beneath them, a funeral scene evokes the collective grief of communities coming to terms with the loss of the mining industry that once shaped their identity, livelihoods and social bonds.