The project was partly funded through the Arts Council's Big Picture initiative, which aimed to build a unique snapshot of the West Midlands and its communities through photos and stories about local people. It is one of a number of recent pieces of work which The Herbert has done with the local Polish community.

The young people took part in a series of workshops led by Birmingham-based artist and photographer Alicja Rogalska. They took inspiration from the work of contemporary photographers Miwa Yanagi, Jan Saudek and Rebekka Gudleifsdottir. Specimens from The Herbert's natural history collection were good subjects for close-up macro photography, and historic buildings near The Herbert provided an opportunity to experiment with wide-angle and telephoto lenses. The students also explored their own image through a series of self portraits.

The virtual exhibition includes three main pieces of work by each participant, created by manipulating the images using Photoshop. Some of them combine two different photographs of the same person into a double self portrait. Some use three separate layered images to create a single work, and others involve 'hand colouring' with a computer graphics package.

The students particularly enjoyed learning to use Photoshop and are all interested in doing more creative activities in the future.

For more information about the project, call Alison Taylor on 024 7629 4785 or email alison.taylor@coventry.gov.uk