[2][3] First finding work as a maid in Leeds, by the 1970s she had opened a dress shop at 103 Railton Road in Brixton[4] and underneath it created an illegal shebeen, popular with the local gay community.
[5][6] After the first Brixton uprising reduced the amount of customers to her shop she shut it down and opened a cafe at 105 Railton Road.
[3][7] The 1985 Brixton uprising brought more financial hardship culminating to a period of the cafe running by candle light as the electricity was shut off.
Pearl’s journey with art began when she was unable to afford a birthday card for a friend so she drew one.
[3] Monika Kinley, one of the country's leading advocates of Outsider Art, describes her as "a visual poet".