Brentford’s Changing Streets Captured in New Exhibition
Vicki Cooke to display 20 paintings at Mother Rugger
A selection of Vicki Cooke's work showing local scenes
August 7, 2026
A handful of Brentford’s most rapidly changing streets have inspired a new exhibition opening this month at Mother Rugger, where local painter Vicki Cooke will be featured as the venue’s Artist of the Month for August.
The exhibition brings together 20 paintings documenting the shifting landscape just off Brentford High Street, where familiar buildings are disappearing, scaffolding rises overnight and new structures reshape the skyline. Cooke, who works from her studio on Johnsons Island, has had a front-row view of the transformation unfolding around Dock Road, Catherine Wheel Road and the surrounding area.
Her work also takes occasional detours up the High Street, recording the slow, weather-worn decline of the Watermans building, now abandoned and increasingly reclaimed by weeds, rain and fire damage. The series, titled “A Moment in Time,” reflects Cooke’s desire to grant permanence to views that exist so briefly they risk slipping from local memory altogether.
Mother Rugger, a creative hub filled with art and independent makers, hosts a different artist each month and regularly runs workshops and events. Cooke’s exhibition will be on display throughout August, with an opening night on Friday 7 August from 6–9pm. Admission is free.
Mother Rugger is at 4 Bradshaw Yard, Brentford (TW8 8GB).
Cooke, who lives on a boat and works from her canal-side studio, studied Fine Art at Oxford Brookes University before taking her practice across Europe, painting murals both indoors and out. Around a decade ago she returned to studio work, developing a distinctive approach to drawing that explores historical women artists through layered, scratched, erased and reworked portraits—images that hover like ghosts between creation and destruction.
Her recent focus on Brentford’s redevelopment marks a shift toward documenting place rather than people, capturing fleeting street-level perspectives as the town undergoes one of the most dramatic periods of change in its modern history. Cooke has previously exhibited at Maidstone Museum, Brentford Library and the Brentford Gallery, alongside regular open studios and group shows.
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