‘Radical and joyous’: Beryl Cook show aims to prove she was a serious artist

A major retrospective exhibition, "Pride and Joy," is opening at The Box in Plymouth to re-evaluate the work of artist Beryl Cook. The exhibition aims to demonstrate that Cook, often dismissed as a kitsch artist, was a serious and significant chronicler of social change. The show features over 80 paintings, sculptures, textiles, and archival materials, highlighting Cook's documentation of marginalized communities, working-class joy, body positivity, and queer culture from the 1970s to 2000s. The exhibition coincides with Plymouth's bid to become the UK City of Culture and the upcoming centenary of Cook's birth in 2026. Cook, who died in 2008, lived in Plymouth from 1968 and the city became the primary subject of her work.

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