At Dimbola Museum and Galleries in Freshwater you’ll find a cross-section of photographic techniques and subjects. Once the home of pioneering photographer Julia Margaret Cameron, you’ll find her work on display along with Chris Packham’s latest wildlife exhibition. On the walls you’ll see images of Charles Darwin and Jimi Hendrix, along with recent work by Island schoolchildren using Julia’s original “wet collodion” process.
“Dimbola is a special place,” says exhibitions and collections coordinator Rachel Flynn. “We’re a very small organisation and we have Julia’s home, her workplace where she created the vast majority of her iconic images. It’s almost like a pilgrimage for many of our visitors. She took photos of the great and the good that she associated with, so there’s Darwin and Tennyson and the actress Ellen Terry in our gallery. She was equally likely to photograph her maids, local children or fishermen – people that were beautiful, characterful or striking.
In the 1860s photography was a new, fiercely debated science. She is a real pioneer of photography as a proper art-form, pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable then.”
Dimbola is an Arts Council accredited museum, run by a charitable trust. The Julia Margaret Cameron Trust has a volunteer board of trustees, supported by a team of part-time staff and a band of volunteers. Although Cameron’s work is the primary focus of the museum, it has also become a home for the history of the world famous 1970 Isle Of Wight Festival, held at nearby Afton Down. You’ll also find regularly changing exhibitions of current work. The team find that a mixture of old and new (or indeed art and rock and roll) brings in a wide spectrum of visitors.
“Chris Packham’s exhibition has been a ‘mini blockbuster’ for us,” says Rachel. “We certainly have people come specifically to see it, who might not necessarily have otherwise come to Dimbola. The festival audience are also discovering Julia’s work and vice versa. A lot of people still don’t know we’re here and special events do bring people through the door.”
Like many Island attractions, Dimbola’s visitors are often mainlanders. Although the cakes in their tearoom bring in a steady stream of locals, the Trust’s administrator John Holsburt is keen to reach a wider audience.
“Generally it’s more holidaymakers than local and our visitors are usually aged 40 plus. We’re really keen to engage with schools and young people. We’re definitely open to ideas too. We’re a great venue for corporate away-days, wedding receptions, presentations and public meetings.”
Dimbola has a strong following and Rachel notes that “our streams of support are often quite eccentric”, ranging from grants, donations and also volunteers who give their time to the museum. Working relationships come in all shapes and sizes, from the camera shop in Freshwater village to multi-national manufacturer Olympus.
“It’s a variety of approaches,” explains John. “We’re very fortunate. Isle Of Wight Festival promoter John Giddings came in seven or eight years ago with a donation that really helped us move to the next level and he’s still a great supporter of ours. Wightlink has recently donated £2000 for a vital software system. We do have very limited resources and Rachel does an incredibly skilful job of marketing us with limited finances.”
“We’re in the process of putting together a strong five-year plan. We are restricted by the confines of the building but we can make the place more accessible and better environmentally controlled. Our plan will make us more financially stable so that we can be serious bidders at auctions when Julia’s work comes up for sale. We also want to be able to borrow major works from other collections. Pictures have their own unique way of portraying emotions and I don’t think that will ever change. The wet collodion is a moment captured and you can’t recreate that. Being surrounded by the photographs is an experience you can’t get on TV or online.”
First published in the September 2014 issue of Island Business magazine.
