One step closer and Contagious, two photography projects by Marco Sanges, are set to make their exhibitionary debut at the Dimbola Museum in the Isle of Wight February 1, 2025.

Both projects will be on display with work by legendary photographer, Lee Miller. Miller’s collection, Style is strength: Lee Miller’s wartime fashion photography, will showcase highlights from the powerful imagery she captured during World War II that made her a household name. 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 Hilton, the museum’s Director, have expressed great excitement for this upcoming display. Bell describes Sanges’ images as “...collaborations in which the subject and the artist lean in together - closer and closer - to visualize 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 Hilton specialize in curating the best work at Dimbola, maintaining the integrity and prestige of the museum’s catalog to honor the memory of Julia Margaret Cameron, a Victorian photography pioneer and former resident of the museum’s site.

Also on display will be Contagious, a photography series that was born in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when Sanges was confined to his London home. Whilst in lockdown, Sanges opted to explore how humans psychologically address crises, and with this, came the inception of a series of snapshots that come together to serve as a self-portrait of isolation.