Peter Poole – cartoonist, painter, and so much more – was a long-time member of the Cartoon County network, and we were sorry to hear of his loss in March 2026. His brother Martin Poole has set up a memorial archive celebrating Peter’s life and extraordinary output of work and has written us this obituary below.
Peter Poole was an artist, writer, filmmaker and community volunteer whose creative life spanned five decades and resisted any single category. He passed away in March 2026 after a short but hard fought battle against a rare form of cancer. He is remembered for the warmth, wit and quiet persistence that ran through everything he did, as much as for the body of work he left behind.
Peter studied graphic design at Croydon College in the late 1980s and went on to work professionally in the field before widening his practice to encompass painting, illustration, comics, photography, Super 8 film, digital video, short fiction and theatre. He showed paintings at regular exhibitions in London and the South East — most frequently at the Café Gallery in Southwark — and his distinctive blend of realistic observation and imaginative invention brought him recognition across many contexts: a first prize at Paradise Park's live painting event, a shortlisting for the Luke Bitmead Bursary for his novel Fear & Magic, and a joint first prize in the EcoSanta Short Story Competition 2024 for A Song in the Sky.
His moving-image work began with urban documentary shorts in the 1980s, and over the years grew to include protest films, drama, artist-process pieces and music-video collaborations. Earlier films were preserved through Screen Archive South East, resurfacing via the Cineminiatures YouTube channel he launched in 2009. Later works reached BBC Radio Devon and the regional broadcaster Latest TV.
From 2013 onwards Peter also made his mark through a sustained series of Wild in Art public trail commissions, designing decorated sculptures for trails across the UK — among them The Great Big Rhino Project, The Great Gorilla Project, Snailspace Brighton & Hove, Moor Otters, Herd in the City, Croydon Stands Tall and The Great Tail Trail in Bournemouth, his final commission in 2025.
Alongside his art, Peter gave his time generously. He campaigned on environmental issues for decades, spoke at public inquiries, stood as an independent council candidate in Brighton & Hove, and worked in the charity sector, most recently as a Flexible Support Worker with the Grace Eyre Foundation in Brighton, where he supported adults with learning disabilities through creative and social activity.
He is deeply missed by all who knew him. A memorial archive celebrating his life and work has now launched at PeterPoole.art.
