By Isle of Wight Observer
Two exhibitions by photographer, David Tunnicliffe, will be on show at Dimbola Museum & Galleries in Freshwater, until December 31.
David’s career as a diplomat and academic spanned more than forty years, taking him across the Middle East and beyond. His travels gave him access to places rarely seen by outsiders, and he captured thousands of black and white images documenting landscapes, historic sites and the people he met.
The Road to Palmyra brings together striking photographs of the ancient Syrian city taken during a visit in 1993. Once regarded as one of the Seven wonders of the Middle East, Palmyra stood on the trade route between the Levant and Mesopotamia, later incorporated into the Roman Empire and becoming a stop along the Silk Road. Preserved and restored during the 20th century, much of the city was tragically destroyed during ISIS attacks in 2015, making David’s images an important record of what has been lost.
The second exhibition, Travels With A Tangerine, takes its name from Moroccan scholar Ibn Battuta, who travelled more than 75,000 miles in the 14th century, recording his journeys in the Rihla. Beginning in India in 1967, David undertook his own travels, photographing across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, capturing people and places with a scholar’s eye and traveller’s curiosity.
Together, the two exhibitions highlight David’s lifelong photographic journeys and provide a unique record of worlds past and present.