Gingerism or abuse of red-heads might not be an issue you would associate with France but a French photographer is to hold an exhibition to highlight the prejudice the country's ginger-haired people face.

Jokes about red heads might just seem all fun and games, but it's no laughing matter for one French photographer whose exhibition is aiming to tackle the prejudice known as Gingerism.

Its a form of racism that has persisted for centuries, says French photographer Pascal Sacleux, a red-head himself, whose series of portraits of 30 ginger-haired people has caught the attention of French people.

The English name for the exhibition is Brittany: Freckles Rock and the portraits aim to show the beauty of red-heads in the historically Celtic region of western France where many if not most of the country's flame-haired citizens live.

Sacleux wants to promote la roussitude (ginger-ness, or ginger-pride, taken from the negritude movement), encouraging those born with the worlds rarest hair colour to feel proud to be different.

Many red-heads have really been hurt growing up, and some are destroyed socially, says Sacleux.

So much so that it was too painful a subject for some of the those he tried to photograph. Some people refused to meet with me, saying that it would be pointless to rub salt in the wound, explained Sacleux.

Luckily, lots of people saw the point in his exhibition, and the project has so far crowdfunded 40% of the required 3,500 to get the portraits printed onto large canvasses which will form a mosaic in the airport hall.

The exhibition will be displayed at Rennes airport from the May 1 to June 15 2017.

You can see some of the portraits in the video below:

By Rose Trigg

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Gingerism in France: Photographer holds exhibition to tackle abuse towards redheads - The Local France