People who know my work will already have heard of The Red Dress and may have even seen the initial exhibition last year. In case you haven't it is a series of photographs which place a red dress in situations which range from the mundane to the threatening. In the exhibition and accompanying book I challenge people to find a picture that is striking to them and tell themselves the story behind it as they imagine it. I then ask them to consider why they thought that. The reason is that I would like people to think more about the position women occupy in the world today and consider whether they themselves consider equality and respect issues they consider sufficiently. Having two daughters and growing up during the second wave of feminism in the fifties and sixties this has become very important to me as a man.
The series continues to be photographed and probably will during the rest of my life. The Red Dress often accompanies me on trips out both in this country and abroad. I continue to read about and see ways in which women are severely disadvantaged and discriminated against and there are many ways in which women are given less respect than they deserve. These things are not always intentional. In some ways this makes it worse as it indicates a lack of thought.
This photograph was taken in Italy in an earthquake damaged house. The chair had been left there and the colours and darkness of the space appealed to me, especially the crumbling plaster and dark, negative space which seeps in from the left. The vines creeping in the window which invite you into the sunlight and the spotlight of sunshine illuminating the dress draped on the chair are all an invitation to make your own story about what has/is/about to happen here.
This picture has not yet appeared within the exhibition but may well do in the future. The company Exhibitours have taken on the show and it will eventually appear in smaller galleries around the UK although this year has, of course, been a challenge for all public exhibition spaces.
The book of the show, including an essay, can be viewed online here :-https://www.blurb.co.uk/b/9402176-the-red-dress
If you would like to know more do email me :-)
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