Art

London-based photographer, Michelle Marshall explores diversity of the MC1R gene, associated with red hair. As you might know the MC1R gene is recessive and requires a presence in both parents in order to appear in an offspring, and is accordingly rare. Red heads make-up between one to two percent of the world population. The words ginger, red-head and carrot-top bring to mind individuals of Celtic descent: fair and freckled. However, Marshall’s photographs work to broaden our narrow notions of red heads by capturing the gene’s presence in people of color and mixed race. “As we struggle with issues of immigration, discrimination and racial prejudice, Mother Nature, meanwhile, follows its own course, embracing society’s plurality and, in the process, shaking up our perceptions about origins, ethnicity and identity.” ...