Netti Hurley’s short film imagines a world for women without media scrutiny

Recent horrors have forced us once again to strive for a society where women can walk the streets fearlessly and unharmed, and photographer Netti Hurley’s latest project feels extraordinarily timely. While Women Walking may chime with ongoing discussions about reclaiming the streets, its main target is reclaiming women’s bodies from the detrimental gaze of the media – a light by which we all examine ourselves. She tells Dazed, “I hope this might inspire changes that allow women to walk freely, without insecurity.”

The project also confronts the problematic curse of dual consciousness which it’s hard for women to avoid. As the seminal critical art theorist John Berger wrote, “A woman must continually watch herself. She is almost continually accompanied by her own image of herself. Whilst she is walking across a room or whilst she is weeping at the death of her father, she can scarcely avoid envisaging herself walking or weeping.” He continues, “Her own sense of being in herself is supplanted by a sense of being appreciated as herself by another... Women watch themselves being looked at.” 

Depicted in a series of black and white vignettes, the women featured in Women Walking inhabit their own bodies defiantly, indifferent to whichever gaze they’re being scrutinised by. Hurley tells us, “Women Walking is not about society watching women but women being seen.”

The project functions as a kind of positive propaganda for diversity, talking back to oppressive ideals of beauty, enlarging the narrow concept of who’s beautiful, and redistributing the power of who is allowed to possess this quality of beauty. “I wanted to create a piece that spoke to a future body type, and a different range of emotions,” Hurley explains. 

The Dazed 100 alumni has been inspired by Helmut Newton, whose erotic but powerful images of women have crucially contributed to ideas of female sexuality and agency. Hurley tells Dazed, “I love the strength of Newton’s female subjects. His women are empowered, in charge, and unashamed.”

Above, take a look through the gallery for stunning imagery from the project. Below, preview the short film Women Walking and read Netti Hurley’s thoughts on living in the gaze of the media, her hopes for the evolution of body image, and her perception of beauty.

How did you choose the women you featured? And did they have input in how they presented themselves? Did it have a collaborative element?

Netti Hurley: Collaborative always! I was inspired by the launch of Brother Model’s curve board – it felt like a really positive and important step for a model agency to take and when they reached out about a shoot, I was really excited. I created the concept based on the original image “Women Walking” by Helmut Newton. It was really important to me that the women were happy with the idea, and so there was always a dialogue between everyone and space for input and feedback.

Women Walking seems extra timely given that we’ve been forced once again to consider what it means to be a woman simply walking. How would you like this work to contribute to that discourse? 

Netti Hurley: We actually shot this at the end of 2020 so, although it does feel timely that we release it now, it wasn’t inspired by this. As much as this is a feminist piece, it resonates more around the identity of women under the gaze of media. I wanted it to speak more about body confidence and beauty ideals in society today. I hope this might inspire changes that allow women to walk freely, without insecurity. Women should be free to be who they are and that is what this project was about – women walking boldly and triumphantly in our many different expressions.

When I watched the film, I thought of a quote by Margaret Atwood, ‘You are a woman with a man inside watching a woman. You are your own voyeur’. In what ways, if any, does this idea resonate with you? 

Netti Hurley: Judgement has many different voices and the voyeur exists in all of these. Women also have the gaze of other women on them. I guess I want to translate this to, ‘You are a woman with a society inside watching a woman. You are your own voyeur’. That is what I want this piece to be a statement about. We are voyeurs to ourselves mostly due to the voice of society and media. We are this voice as much as men are, and we all have the power to change it.

“Nudity is beautiful. I think what struck me the most when shooting this piece was how beautiful the women looked and how beautiful the female body is in its many forms” – Netti Hurley

Should we collectively be working towards desexualising nudity? Or renegotiating how we perceive women’s bodies? 

Netti Hurley: Nudity is beautiful. I think what struck me the most when shooting this piece was how beautiful the women looked and how beautiful the female body is in its many forms. Women with bigger bodies are more likely to have their images taken down off social media even if they are in line with nudity regulations – this needs to change. Projects, editorials, and campaigns using women of varied body types will contribute to this change. So, yes, I think that by renegotiating how we perceive women’s bodies we will be de-sexualising nudity where it currently is biased.

You refer to Helmut Newton as an inspiration. How would you characterise his vision of women’s bodies and female sexuality? And in what ways do you feel Women Walking responds to Newton?

Netti Hurley: I love the strength of Newton’s female subjects. His women are empowered, in charge, and unashamed. They represent a similar body type and so do mine. ‘Women Walking’ was shot by Newton in 1981 – 20 years later we are in a different world. Beauty ideals are ever-changing and the reference to this photo was a reminder of this. A woman’s strength isn’t defined by their size but by the eye of the photographer, the viewer, and the expression of the subject. By using an image taken two decades years ago, it enforces this idea of beauty perceptions are malleable and that strength doesn’t come from a superficial ideal. This should be a motivation and gentle reminder for all of us.

Could you tell us about the audio that accompanies the film? 

Netti Hurley: Voicenotes on my phone! I’m always collecting and recording sounds and voice clips etcetera and this felt like a place I could use them. I also reached out to Merc The Big Body Benz, a rapper from NY who I have wanted to work with for a while. She embodies the same message this piece was about in her lyrics, music, and personality. I sent her the film and she wrote the track ‘Women Walking’ while heavily pregnant with twins and already the mother of two kids — she’s amazing.

How would you like Women Walking to affect its viewers? What messages would you most like us to take away with us? 

Netti Hurley: I would like it to open up different perspectives on how the media presents women. Why can’t a crying woman sell a handbag? We feel happy. We feel sexy. We feel sad. We feel strong. We feel vulnerable. There are strengths in all these expressions. I would love people to think more about how we can present women honestly and in the multifaceted way that we exist.

I connect to beauty by it being something intuitive – there’s no fixed identity or home for it. And it’s this which inspires my photography and film. The media likes to dictate to us what beauty standards are and I always want to challenge this. I want to help change the perception of beauty to exactly this – a feeling not defined by anything physically tangible. That, for me, is when beauty opens up to its true identity.

Women Walking, credits below:

DIRECTED BY NETTI HURLEY
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER & ON SET PRODUCER: ZOE ROSE-DAVIES 
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: HANNAH BELLIL
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: NELLIE HERON-ANSTEAD 
PA / COVID OFFICER: LUANA DEL VECCHIO 
RUNNER: DINA JACOBS 
DOP: KAROL JURGA 
FOCUS PULLER: BEN PARISH DIR
CAMERA TRAINEE: TARA SADEGHI 
ASSISTANT: SOFIA BORIOSI DIR 
GAFFER: LEE PARFITT 
SPARK: DAX 
ART DIRECTOR: ROSIE BONNAR 
PROP STYLIST: OLITA-MAY FORBES ADAM 
STYLIST: CELIA ARIAS 
STYLISTASSIST: MAOMI YAKOSHI
STYLISTASSIST:CAROLINA TAVIRODIR 
MUA: GRACE ELLINGTON
MUA ASSIST: SAMANTHA LONG 
MUA ASSIST:EMMANOUELA MEGKISTOU
HAIRSTYLIST: LAURAINE BAILEY
HAIRASSIST: NAOMI WARWICK
HAIRASSIST: SHEREE JOURDAN

EQUIPMENT - ONE STOP
STUDIO - SUGAR STUDIOS

BROTHER MODELS 
Olive Bass
Rachel Duncan
Chloe Pierre
Ingrid Lisa
Sophia Khokhar
Darcy Jouza
Wilhemina Gilbertson-Davis
Christina Okpala
Talia Jordan Lewis 
Joey Darlinn 

EDITOR: ALI  GILL
GRADE: TIM SMITH - CHEAT 

SOUND DESIGN- JAMES EVERETT @ NO.8 
KAREN NODEN @ NO.8

MUSIC - ANNA WALL

COMMISSIONING TRACK
“WOMEN WALKING” BY MERC THE BIG BODY BENZ

SPECIAL THANKS STINK FILMS