ACCLAIMED photographer Anita Corbin visited the Fox Talbot Museum in Lacock on Friday, where her stunning portraits of pioneering women feature in the exhibition First Women UK.

This is the first stop in the four year, UK-wide tour of the exhibition, following its launch at the RCA Dyson Gallery this year. Featuring 100 portraits of women who have been the first to achieve a significant goal in their field, the exhibition is the culmination of an ambitious ten-year project by Anita, to mark the centenary of women's suffrage.

Anita said she was delighted to have her work exhibited in Lacock, at the birthplace of photography - and also noted how appropriate it was considering the abbey was originally found by one of the most powerful women of the middle ages, Ela Countess of Salisbury.

"With more images being made now than ever before, I wanted to provide an alternative to the mainstream, to create powerful images of women that demand people look beyond the exterior and find the essence of the natural woman, her resilience. I wanted to celebrate the impact women have had on society over the last 100 years, while also offering emotional support to empower women who seek to be the best they can be," she said.

The women in the portraits range across the fields of politics, sport, art, engineering, the professions and entertainment - including Carolynn Sells, first woman to win a Manx Grand Prix TT motorcycle race, Bellatrix, first woman world champion beatboxer and Christine Duffin, first woman governor at HM prison Strangeways.

Fox Talbot Museum curator Roger Watson said: "You see the strength that comes through these images - you feel a connection when you look at them."

Visitor Liz Chumbley said: "They have such an intensity, it's incredible."

First Women UK runs at the museum till February 3.