Jyll Bradley retrospective at The Box explores light, memory and identity through three decades of work

Jyll Bradley's retrospective exhibition at The Box in Plymouth features the sculpture Running and Returning (2025), a circular arrangement of iridescent plexiglass panels on a white plinth. The show includes works spanning three decades, from early photographic pieces to recent abstract sculptures. Bradley's 1989/2011 lightbox work Naming Spaces displays images of three young women with superimposed text from Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time. Self-portraits from 1987 appear for the first time, including Self-Portrait as Orlando 1987–2024 where Bradley wears Elizabethan costume. The wall-mounted Grafts (2023) uses luminous plexiglass, mirror and wood to create interactive reflections. Outside the gallery stands The Hop, a sculptural-architectural structure first shown at London's Hayward Gallery in 2022, inspired by Kent's agricultural hop rigs. Photographs from Bradley's 2008 project Mr Roscoe's Garden document Liverpool's historical botanical garden. The exhibition runs through 2 November 2025 at The Box's annex gallery in a former church building. Bradley's work explores themes of light, memory, identity and relationships through varied media including plexiglass, timber, steel and photography.