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. Women Walking is not about society watching women but women being seen. Women watch themselves being looked at.

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.

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.

“I hope this might inspire changes that allow women to walk freely, without insecurity.”

---Nettie Hurley/ Director of Women Walking