THE final exhibition created as part of Independent Arts Time & Tide project is taking place at Dimbola Museum and Gallery, Freshwater Bay, from today (Sunday) until February 17.

Time & Tide, funded by Arts Council England, has paired local history and the arts to bring opportunities for older people to engage with cultural pursuits.

The latest exhibition entitled Art and Identity was the first foray into portraiture for the artists, many of whom had not even picked up a digital camera before being involved in Time & Tide.

The portraits were produced by older people, at workshops run by Independent Arts in Southern Housing Group schemes.

The work is inspired by discussing the themes of art and identity and learning about Julia Margaret Cameron’s pioneering work in photography.

Local visual artist Julian Winslow mentored the photographers to produce this fantastic body of work.

Project manager, Hannah Griffiths, said: "Art and Identity has been a fitting end to Time & Tide, as our artists were given the opportunity to reflect on themselves and how this year long project has brought a change in them.

"The quality of work produced by our older artists has been outstanding.

"Seeing their confidence grow with every workshop has been wonderful and for many of our artists Time & Tide has been a life changing experience. It has been an honour for Independent Arts to give them this opportunity."

Independent Arts is a small charity based on the Isle of Wight founded in 1987.

It uses the arts as a tool to improve health, wellbeing and quality of life for older people, and others in our community facing disadvantage or social isolation.

Dimbola is open daily, not Mondays, between 10am and 4pm.

There is free entry to the exhibition from Sunday until Sunday, January 20.