Grayson Perry is an English contemporary artist, writer and broadcaster. He is known for his ceramic vases, tapestries as well as his observations of the contemporary arts scene, and for dissecting British "prejudices, fashions and foibles". Perry's vases have classical forms and are decorated in bright colours, depicting subjects at odds with their attractive appearance. There is a strong autobiographical element in his work, in which images of Perry as "Claire", his female alter-ego, and "Alan Measles", his childhood teddy bear, often appear. He has made a number of documentary television programmes and has curated exhibitions. He has published two autobiographies, Grayson Perry: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl (2007) and The Descent of Man (2016), written and illustrated a graphic novel, Cycle of Violence (2012), written a book about art, Playing to the Gallery (2014), and published his illustrated Sketchbooks (2016). In 2013 he delivered the BBC Reith Lectures.