Dimbola

Permanent Exhibition: Isle of Wight Festival
2014-01-01 - 2030-12-31
Solo Isle of Wight Festival Gallery
An exhibition focusing on the third and final of the original Isle of Wight Festivals held at Afton in 1970 within sight and sound of Dimbola and which saw Jimi Hendrix’s last major performance and his last in the UK.
The display includes rare posters and photographs of these legendary festivals. One photograph in particular is a panorama from Afton Down which gives an idea of the audience of 600,000 who gathered to watch Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Taste, Miles Davis and Joni Mitchell to name a few.
To compliment this there is a display of posters and images of the new IOW Festivals, revived by the leading music agency Solo in 2002, which have featured such artists as The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, REM and Paul McCartney.
Also showing: Chris Cudlip bronze head of Hendrix. Chris has a background in special effects working as a freelance figurative sculptor and prop maker in London working for companies as varied as English national Opera, Madame Tussauds and Pinewood Studios He is now pursuing a solo career from the Arches Studios complex based in Southampton where he available for public or private commissions of any size.
Outside Dimbola there is a small memorial garden with a statue of Jimi Hendrix designed by sculptor John Swindells. Have your picture taken next to Jimi and his guitar or breathe in the wonderful lavender ‘Purple Haze’ that grows in his garden (spring/summer) and enjoy the views down to Freshwater Bay.

Mini Iconic Bowie – Terry O’Neill
2019-06-01 10:00 - 2028-12-31 16:00 UTC
Dimbola Museum & Galleries are honoured that Iconic Images have kindly agreed to loan us photographs of David Bowie taken by the late Terry O’Neil left over from our Iconic Bowie exhibition is 2019.
Over a 20-year period, O’Neill captured Bowie’s shapeshifting artistry better than just about anybody else.
O’Neill’s photographs have left such a lasting impression because he was able to demystify some of the 20th century’s biggest icons.
By the time O’Neill started shooting Bowie during his Ziggy Stardust tour in 1973, he was much a respected name in photography.
Currently exclusive to Dimbola in the UK, the limited editions images are available to purchase. For more information please email admin@dimbola.co.uk

Lee Miller: Style is Strength
2025-02-01 - 2025-05-18
1st February – 18th May
Fashion photographer Lee Miller captured the essence of women for magazines such as British and American Vogue.Living in war time Britain, she turned her talents towards documenting the experience of women during the passage of World War II.On loan from Farley’s House, Miller’s post-war Sussex home, this exhibition shows wartime women as they have never been seen before.
Of the photographs in the collection, some evoke the urgency and resourcefulness of wartime Britain without being too explicit.In others, though, Miller does not disguise the wartime context of her work: defiantly, models pose in front of the destruction inflicted by the devastating bombing raids of the Blitz.
In her piece ‘Check Mate’, distributed in British Vogue in 1943, Miller drew attention to the difficulties of publishing colour photography in wartime. Through ‘Hats Assignment’, she urged the public to fight the war with fashion.
The Lee Miller collection on display at Dimbola until the 18th May showcases examples of her work from 1940-1944, demonstrating the attitudes of women during WWII. Brought together, Miller’s work will show how these women would not bow down to the harsh realities of war, striving instead to maintain their feminine strength with pride.

Marco Sanges: One Step Closer
2025-02-01 - 2025-05-18
1st February – 18th May 2025
One Step Closer by photographer Marco Sanges marks his exhibitionary debut at Dimbola.
The exhibition is on display alongside the work by legendary photographer, Lee Miller. While their work stands eight decades apart, both Miller and Sanges hold unique balances in their prolific portfolios between stunning portraiture and capturing moments of extreme crisis.
On having his work displayed at Dimbola, Sanges expressed, “Creating this project was a deeply spiritual experience comprised of intense emotions that were as contrastingly dark and light as the portraits themselves. I am honoured to see this new work alongside Lee Miller’s, as our work runs in several parallels – both analogue photography with a similar language that emphasizes the noir beauty of black and white photography.”
One Step Closer uses the power of art and storytelling to enact change through an intimate series of portraits that capture paragons of film, theatre, music, and literature. Some of the project’s participants include Bob Geldof, Elizabeth McGovern, Jeremy Irons, Brian Cox, Gyles Brandreth, and Clare Balding. While resulting in dramatic, narrative-based imagery, the true aim of this initiative is to raise funds via auction for Under One Sky, a London-based not-for-profit charity to set up to support the homeless community.As Sanges’ subjects take one step closer to the camera, proceeds will help bring us all one step closer to ending homelessness.
Julian Bell, President of Dimbola, and Brian Hinton, the museum’s Director, have expressed great excitement for this display. Bell describes Sanges’ images as “…collaborations in which the subject and the artist lean in together – closer and closer – to visualise that flame of fantasy within. The results are by turns rapturous, hilarious and scary: often, of their nature, wildly melodramatic; in every case, imprinted with the uniqueness of the sitter.” Bell and Hinton specialise in curating the best work at Dimbola, maintaining the integrity and prestige of the museum’s catalogue to honour the memory of Julia Margaret Cameron, a Victorian photography pioneer and former resident of the museum’s site.
This collaborative exhibit runs until 18 May, 2025.
