GRAYSON PERRY (b. 1960)

'These are five loyalists from East Belfast. Four of them participated in a march I witnessed commemorating the centenary of the founding of the Ulster Volunteer Force and I was fascinated by how exotic it felt. Ironically, being fervently patriotic is not a particularly British trait. Their portrait is in the form of an embroidered banner that might be carried aloft on a march. I deliberately chose a very colourful and jolly style as the murals that are everywhere in East Belfast veer heavily towards the dour and aggressive.'
Grayson Perry