The photographs and their subjects are undeniably stunning. However, the enchanting appeal of the images has its drawbacks. "A beautiful picture doesn't always relate what it's like to be different," Marshall said in an interview with Vice. "There's a flipside to being different: it's not always accepted. Beautiful photography serves one purpose, but in the context of daily life people may not have that reaction."
Model Natasha Culzac, who covered Marshall's project in Vice and posed for the photograph above, shared her personal experience growing up with red hair and dark skin.
"For me, growing up tall, mixed-raced, with thick, frizzy ginger hair, in a predominantly white, working-class seaside town was not the ticket. At 13 years old I was buying skin whitening cream from Boots to pulverize the freckles and at 14, during my Slipknot phase at the turn of the millennium, was violently straightening my newly-dyed black hair. Now, though, I couldn't care less and relish being unique."
Categorizations fall short. Stereotypes disappoint. Difference is beautiful. There is a lot to learn from Marshall's striking portraits, if we could only stop staring at them.