7 minute read
Lead interview: Dimbola Royalty - Julia Cameron de Villiers
DIMBOLA ROYALTY
by Rebecca Lawson Photos by Gary Wallis
Being born into a family tree which has sprouted female trailblazers such as Julia Margaret Cameron (affectionately nicknamed JMC) and her niece Virginia Woolf may understandably be daunting for many — not so for Julia Cameron de Villiers. Keeping true to her roots, she has paved her way in the creative world with the individuality and aplomb for which the women in her family are famous.
As the newly appointed vice president at Freshwater’s Dimbola Lodge, Julia is, in a way, coming home — and it seems to be a family reunion. As the great, great, great granddaughter and namesake of the renowned Victorian portrait photographer who used to call Dimbola home, Julia was the obvious choice for the new position, serendipitously joining her relative Julian Bell who serves as president of the charity. These strong familial links to the property have prompted esteemed Cameron scholar and Chairman of the Julia Margaret Cameron Trust, Brian Hinton, to describe Julia as ‘Dimbola Lodge royalty’, but she is also a noted creative in her own right. Julia’s artistry was nurtured in fertile soil; “I was aware of my ancestors from a young age and would often devour the photography books around the house, getting lost in JMC’s images, especially of the angels and pre-raphaelite women adorned in flower crowns — it was like a fairytale world to me as a child. I’d dream I was part of that world and always hoped I could create something similar one day.”
Create something similar she did — as a jewellery designer amongst other things. Her collection of pendants and headpieces all reflect the sensual whimsy of the portraits taken by her Victorian forbear. Julia says, “Many of JMC’s portraits of pre-raphaelite beauties adorned in jewellery and headpieces inspired some of the early photo shoots for my collection. I referenced these images in style and artistic feeling, even naming my collection ‘A Pre-Raphaelite Utopia’ in honour of her memory.” The Freshwater of JMC’s day was certainly a creative utopia, and Dimbola was visited by greats such as Alfred Lord Tennyson (who lived in neighbouring property Farringford), G. F. Watts, William Holman Hunt, actress Ellen Terry, Lewis Carroll and his muse for ‘Alice in Wonderland’, Alice Liddell. Dubbed the Freshwater Set, they set the small island village alight with Victorian celebrity. So what is it about Freshwater that drew so much creative talent? Tennyson told of air so pristine it was ‘worth sixpence a pint’, and the author Anne Thackery described it as ‘an enchanting place with high downs and glorious views of the English Channel’. But what does Julia think? “The idea of living in a community of artists expressing their creativity in such a free way is so exciting and there is something about being on an island which lends itself to a freedom of expression. JMC had an unconventional upbringing in India and I’m sure this informed the creative freedom she showed when living in Freshwater. She was also known to have an intensely vibrant energy which I’m sure attracted like-minded people.” JMC’s energy manifested itself on the stage as well as behind the camera. She loved hosting theatre salons at her home, where friends would put on amusing plays for each other’s entertainment. This Cameron acting talent is another skill Julia brings to the modern age, filling her growing social media platforms with hilarious sketches in an assortment of on-themoney accents from Australian to Geordie. Victorian creatives aren’t the only ones attracted to Freshwater. The 1970 Isle of Wight Festival was held directly in front of Dimbola Lodge on Afton Down. This was the last public concert played by Jimi Hendrix in the UK. Dimbola still has strong connections with the festival, and festival organiser John Giddings even funded a memorial statue to the infamous guitarist, which sits proudly at the entrance to the property. At the 2022 festival, the Dimbola Lodge marquee proved a great success and a brilliant way to ensure the property and its exhibitions remain in the modern consciousness. This isn’t a difficult thing to do. JMC’s portraits have an almost unnerving prescience about them. In Julia’s words, they have a “presence that transcends time or trends — they will never go out of style. Her soft, dreamy aesthetic revolutionised the world of photography and it is this originality that keeps her images so modern, even to this day. She believed creativity was the oxygen of the soul and she didn’t have an option other than to express her ideas.” Appointing Julia and her cousin as president and vice-president of Dimbola was a stroke of genius on Brian Hinton’s part — it not only reunites the family that was so important to JMC, but it also brings in fresh ideas and a new direction that will undoubtedly keep Dimbola Lodge at the forefront of the creative industry. “Family was very important to JMC and having two descendants involved seemed a no-brainer to our chairman when he asked me,” says Julia. “Julian is both a painter and art historian, and teaches at the Princes’ School of Drawing in Kensington. He is bringing a new scrutiny to how Dimbola operates and asking tough questions about how we wish to move forward in the long term. “A focus will remain on maintaining the relevance of JMC’s work by using new technology to explore the Freshwater Set, upgrading the library and archives for visiting students, and making Dimbola a serious place of scholarship while retaining a fun and creatively productive environment. “As a team, we will suggest potential exhibitors, promote Dimbola within the arts sphere and further afield, and act as ambassadors for Dimbola on a much larger stage. Attracting young people is central to our future direction and we have plans to exhibit works by other ground-breaking artists, such as Patti Smith and Koo Stark. “We’re working up to a big 30thanniversary event, which will be held in June 2024, but before that we have a fascinating show of Dickens’ portraits colourised with skin tints of his current descendants, a career retrospective of Fleet Street legend Larry Ellis, featuring his images of the Beatles and Carry On films, and we are pursuing lottery funding to tell the story of 21 years of the new Isle of Wight Festivals with cutting edge visual and sound tech. There will be an open photographic competition for Island residents, funded by the local newspaper, and we will be reopening the Freshwater gallery for smaller shows, including young artists, which I hope to curate alongside Julian Bell. It is wonderful to see all the work her descendants are doing to keep Dimbola in the modern consciousness, but remaining relevant is something JMC could probably achieve all on her own. Julia describes her as “a pioneer and a beacon of strength and empowerment to women. The confidence and selfbelief she had to begin a career at the age of 48, in a time when women were resigned to being confined to the house, demonstrates her ferocious and progressive nature. She gave little thought to the presupposed obstacles and barriers placed upon women of the Victorian era. Her passion for creative freedom and capturing beauty was unprecedented. She lived her life according to the beat of her own drum. She was an incredible role model to women and surely one of the original feminists.” That, surely, is relevant in any age.
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