RED HOT is a groundbreaking stills and video exhibition that celebrates red-haired male beauty while attempting to reverse the stigmas attached to ginger men in the UK.
Taking place at the Gallery in Redchurch Street from Monday 16th to Sunday 22nd of December 2013, RED HOT will be the result of a year-long photography project by Thomas Knights. Working as a fashion photographer and music video director Knights has drummed up an impressive portfolio; his work featuring in Vogue Italia, Dazed and Confused, and Marie Claire, and has also worked with Marina and the Diamonds, Labrinth, Rosin Murphy and Maya Jane Coles.
A natural redhead himself, Knights has experienced personally the negative perceptions that come with being ginger, and, having no red-haired male public role models to persuade him otherwise, he grew up feeling ashamed of his red roots. With RED HOT, Thomas has devised a photography and video concept that re-defines the perceived image of the redheaded male. The men showcased here are masculine, chiselled, cool, and proud of the way that they look. These men will be the new icons for what will hopefully be a new positive rebranding of ‘the ginger’. As Knights puts it;
“We have been conditioned to think ginger men are ugly and weak. I wanted to flip this on its head and present the redheaded male as the ‘ultimate’ alpha male.”
With celebrities like actress Nicole Kidman and model Lily Cole as elegance and style incarnate our western culture has put the ginger female on a pedestal, leaving their male counterparts outside of the limelight. No other hair colour experiences a gender inequality in the same way. Just a couple of years ago none of the London modelling agencies had any red-haired male models on their books, and red-haired actors were hugely underrepresented in TV and film. However with the
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popularity of Prince Harry, Damian Lewis and Eddie Redmayne – brilliant ambassadors for the red-haired male – public opinion does seem to be changing.
Supporting RED HOT’s light hearted and positive drive for change is the Anti-Bullying Alliance, helping to highlight the seriousness of the problem in the UK.
“The Anti-Bullying Alliance is delighted that Thomas Knights is using his incredible talent and the RED HOT exhibition to celebrate the beauty of red hair. We have a long history of singling out people with red or ‘ginger’ hair as the recipient of jokes in this country – and for children in the playground this can be used as an excuse to bully and intimidate, bringing real misery and unhappiness for those on the receiving end. We hope that through this exhibition all children and adults can be proud to be red and stand up to anyone that says otherwise!”
RED HOT
50 Redchurch St London, E2 7DP
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