Red hot! Joel Meyerowitzs ginger love affair in pictures | Art and design

The photographers seminal Redheads explored his fascination with the hair colour and a forthcoming edition features new and previously unseen images Joel Meyerowitz Wed 30 Mar 2022 07.00BST

Red hot! Joel Meyerowitz’s ginger love affair – in pictures

The photographer’s seminal Redheads explored his fascination with the hair colour – and a forthcoming edition features new and previously unseen images

Joel Meyerowitz

Main image: ‘Transformed in sunlight’ … Redhead Club of America: California 1984. Photograph: Joel Meyerowitz

Wed 30 Mar 2022 07.00 BST

  • Sarah: Provincetown, Massachusetts 1981

    Joel Meyerowitz’s Redheads was first published in 1990 to critical acclaim. It was a celebration of redheaded people, young and old, male and female. He talks us through some of the photographs: ‘Sarah was one of the very first redheads I photographed and I could say that it was her mystery that started my fascination with this 2-3% of the world’s population.’ A new edition of Joel Meyerowitz’s book, Redheads, featuring new and previously unseen portraits is published by Damiani. All photographs: Joel Meyerowitz/Damiani

  • Cameron: Provincetown, Massachusetts 1983

    ‘A speckled, freckled rare boy appeared in front of me and asked why I was using a wooden camera. His quiet curiosity and determined manner made me instantly want to see if I could hold that on film’

  • Sarah and Amanda: Provincetown, Massachusetts 1983

    ‘Who doesn’t become fascinated by twins? And these two were impish little devils who I managed to get to sit still for the one second it took to make their portrait’

  • Bob: Provincetown, Massachusetts 1981

    It was in 1978, during his first summer of making portraits while using an 8x10 inch large format camera, that Meyerowitz found himself drawn to photographing redheads. For decades the photographer has been fascinated by their aesthetic allure, their hair and the exotic markings of their skin. As different as redheads are in terms of nationality and religion, they often give the appearance of a strong familial connection

  • Daisy: Provincetown, Massachusetts 1980

    ‘I discovered that out of 100 portraits I had made during an intensive month’s work a few summers earlier, 35 were of redheads. How had that happened? I have a feeling that it was a combination of it being summertime, when we literally expose more of ourselves, and the brilliant Cape Cod blueness of sea and sky that drew me particularly to the flamboyant qualities of redheads. Their hair and the exotic flourish of their skin in sunlight seemed to vibrate in that blue surround. Like film itself, redheads are transformed by sunlight’

  • Redhead Club of America: California, 1984

    ‘Since I was interested in Redheads I called a San Diego Redhead Club and managed to get about a third of these to come to the shoot. Then I made three separate images using the horizon line as the link between each frame so I could create this panorama. In each frame the same people move around until some interesting dynamic happened. In the middle is a little girl spinning and twirling as if she was the dervish fascinating all of them’

  • Maxine: Provincetown, Massachusetts 1983

    ‘It takes a lot of patience and timing to make a long exposure with a large format camera while a child is more interested in devouring her birthday cake’

  • Renee: Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 1981

    ‘I remember that when I first saw her, as she appeared out of the shadows of the forest, my impression was of a wood nymph cautiously stepping into the sunlight’

  • Jack Pierson: Provincetown, Massachusetts 1981

    ‘He was just graduated from art school, and was a close friend of the young Nan Goldin, and a regular visitor to Provincetown. He came to my deck with two friends and after some group images I saw his desire, and so made this still and solo image’

  • Caroline: Provincetown, Massachusetts 1982

    ‘Shy, sensitive, vulnerable; yet she willed herself to stand before my 8x10 camera and hold steady while I waited for her to reveal her mystery to me’

  • Kathleen and Samantha: Provincetown, Massachusetts 1982

    ‘A mother and daughter whose choice of black-and-white striped bathing suits emphasised their figures’

  • New York City, 1984

    ‘Photographing redheads was so compelling that I cast my net even wider. I ran an ad in the local paper: “REMARKABLE PEOPLE! If you are a redhead or know someone who is, I’d like to make your portrait, call…” They began coming to my deck, bringing with them their courage and shyness, their curiosity and dreams, as well as stories of what it is like to be redheaded’
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