RED HOT - Exhibition

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 between the 16th until the 22nd of December, the RED HOT exhibition 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’.

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 popularity of Prince Harry, Damian Lewis and Eddie Redmayne - brilliant ambassadors for the red-haired male - public opinion does seem to be changing.

Supporting Knights’ light hearted and positive drive for change is the Anti-Bullying Alliance, helping to highlight the seriousness of the problem in the UK.