Photo Exhibition Celebrates Sexy Side Of Masks

A photography exhibition focusing on the sexy side of mask-wearing opens on Frith Street on Thursday 18 November.

London-based photographer Paul Soso, who died in March 2020 – just days before the first Covid lockdown – spent years capturing the ways that people wear masks for fun, fetish and freedom of expression.

Now, more than a year after his death, his first solo exhibition opens at a time when masks have taken on a very different meaning.

“Paul’s photos are a celebration of everything that makes masks sexy,” said Martin Vintner-Jackson of Art Society Soho. “They’re also a snapshot of London nightlife.

“Following in the great traditions of Weegee in New York and Brassai in Paris, Paul was a night-time observer and recorder of the culture of his time – a time of greater social freedom, when wearing a mask was a statement of individuality, sexual independence and liberation.”

The exhibition will be held over two floors at renowned gallery and salon We Are Cuts, a Soho institution that has hosted shows featuring the likes of Goldie, Normski, Helen Beard and Sadie Lee.

“Paul was a true artist who never got the recognition he deserved in his lifetime,” said gallery owner Daniel. “This exhibition will be the start of putting that right.”

The pictures will be available to buy as limited edition prints, with all the profits going to Paul’s children, Mia and Marley Soso.

“It’s amazing to see Dad’s work up on the walls and getting the kind of attention it deserves at last. He would have loved to have seen this,” said Mia.

The exhibition is free to attend and opens with a public celebration at 7pm on Thursday 18 November – masks optional. “Masks” will run until the end of the year.

About Paul Soso

Paul Soso (1963-2020) first picked up a camera when he was at drama school in Edinburgh back in the 1980s. His time as a reportage photographer gave him the ability to capture a story in a split-second of film, and there’s a feeling of movement and character in all his photography. His story-telling flair made him an unofficial diarist of the London fetish scene.

About We Are Cuts

Founded in 1981, We Are Cuts is a hair salon & gallery which displays original art on its walls all year round. It moved to its current location at 41 Frith Street, in the heart of Soho, in 2019. Celebrity patrons have included David Bowie, Boy George, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Sean Penn, Sacha Baron Cohen and Steve McQueen.