Having originally been launched in June 2019, the well-received ‘The Wight Book’ has been relaunched with an exhibition at Dimbola Museum and Galleries, Freshwater Bay.
Featuring 57 unique photographs it shows the work of 10 separate photographers who worked on this worthy tome.
At the launch event, Dr Brian Hinton MBE, Chairman of the Julia Margaret Cameron Trust, said that visitors would be rewarded with world-class images from Island-based photographers.
Ben Wood, one of the contributors to ‘The Wight Book’, acted as the photo editor and has now curated this exhibition.
In an introduction to the exhibition, he revealed that the whole concept was the brainchild of businessman Christopher Scott who enlisted Brian Marriott as the artistic director. Brian’s brief was to design a book about everything that was great about the Island. Ben then convened a meeting with the photographers. He also mentioned that Brian Hinton was involved from an early stage as the author of one of the 22 chapters. He could not resist recalling that one of his forebears was a rival to Julia Margaret Cameron, and then remarked how so many photographers get inspiration from living here.
One photographer featured in the new exhibition, Gary Wallis, learnt photography at Sandown High School before attending Central Saint Martins, London. Although still working in London, Gary returned to the Island in 2011 and undertook a number of commissions. His contribution to the exhibition is a series of Island personalities including artists and well-known residents.
Island-born photographer Julian Winslow is a proud ex ‘Barton Boy’. Amongst his examples is his version of the ‘Mad Hatter’s Tea Party’, featuring, amongst others, the aforementioned, Dr Brian Hinton.
An exhibition of Island photographs would not be complete without examples of sailing yachts. Peter Mumford’s contribution includes ‘Velsheda’, ‘Mariquita’, ‘Athena’ and more recently ‘Land Rover BAR’ and is an excellent example of Beken’s pre-eminence in this field.
2 photographers have chosen to leave their images untitled, a rather lazy and unhelpful practice.
As well as the photographs to view and purchase, ‘The Wight Book’ is on sale at Dimbola as well as the usual Island-wide outlets. This fascinating exhibition continues until Saturday 28th March 2020.
Report by Alan and Suzanne Whitewood
