Rebel Girl
Samantha Sutcliffe is a New York–based photographer, director, and writer who was shortlisted for the 2021 Hopper Prize. Destiny Strudwick is a model who will be walking the runways this fall.
The pair, who have been friends since 2019, made a series of portraits with little more than a humble mullet wig as inspiration and Sutcliffe’s suburban New Jersey hometown as their setting. In these images, Sutcliffe’s camera pictures Strudwick as a woman on the verge—alternately tough, vulnerable, and out of reach. She then turns the lens on herself, exposing similar mysteries.
Interviewing each other for the Portrait Issue of Gigantic, the two touch on everything from style icons and go-to songs to the appeal of anonymity.
Photographs, video, and interview by Samantha Sutcliffe
Samantha Sutcliffe: Okay, so I’ve been photographing you for five years. Do you remember the first time?
Destiny Strudwick: Yeah, you seemed very reserved and professional. Very supportive of the work. But I did not think we would become close, ever. I had also just gotten a keratin treatment to straighten my hair. I don’t know, maybe it felt easier to be that character of a girl with straight hair.
SS: I love your hair. You’re able to change your look and characters in so many ways. I’ve been working on a feature-length film and I want you to audition for one of the parts. What sort of character would you want to play in a film?
DS: I’ve always seen myself playing the girl-interrupted type, but now I think there should be a movie about the girlfriends of some dudes in a band. And I play the most grouchy girlfriend of them all.
SS: The portrait of you standing on the side of the highway with a mullet haircut—we took that in my hometown. I grew up on that highway. I have memories of eating fast food in my friend's car late at night while listening to music. That’s the suburban experience. What did you think of the town? Could you relate to it?
DS: 100 percent. Like, we shot directly outside of a Taco Bell. Walking to TB with no money was my daily walk. Ask for water, get Pepsi, spill Pepsi, use empty water cup as ashtrays in your disgusting stained-carpet room, spill ashtray, repeat…
‘I’ve always seen myself playing the girl-interrupted type.’
—Destiny Strudwick
DS: What else have you been working on?
SS: I’ve been thinking a lot about my roots, where I come from. I remember going to Barnes & Noble, reading music magazines and putting them on my wall, romanticizing about marrying whoever was in the photos. Other than writing a script for this feature-length, I’ve been really interested in art history. I just learned about [postmodern sculptor] Cady Noland. She vanished in the early 2000s, and there is no information online about her personal life. I’m super interested in anonymity and pseudonymity.
DS: Oh, wow, I’ve never heard of her. You’ll have to tell me more. I understand the anonymity desire… We as a society have put ourselves in a position where we’re begging to be judged at every turn. It’s dark, and it makes sense to not want to contribute.
SS: Do you have a dream collaboration?
DS: I don’t. What will be will be.
SS: Do you have an idol?
DS: I’ve always only idolized men. But then I found out about artists like Amanda Palmer and Lydia Lunch and was like, oh, wait, women can be cool? It was an actual shock to me. I had to erase and rewrite everything. Then you started to see men try to be more feminine, identifying in the 2000s with the screamo scene / kid style… It’s a continuous cycle. It’s cool that gender means almost nothing to Gen Z. They’re mad smart for that.
Now that I’m no longer a teenager, I idolize people I know firsthand who find ways to be and stay happy and present. And don’t use social media.
SS: When you were a child, what did you think most about doing when you grew up? Did you have a style icon? I wanted to be a hairdresser. I grew up wearing a uniform age 5 through 18.
DS: That tracks for you. You’d be a cute hairdresser in a small town. My style icon when I was young was, like, Jimmy Urine from Mindless Self Indulgence. There were also these three punk kids in my school (think the Addicts shirts and very long, undone Mohawks) who had hot older punk brothers you would find loitering at the mall. They wore bandanas around their necks. So ultimately, I just wanted to look like some version of them.
‘I’m super interested in anonymity and pseudonymity.’
—Samantha Sutcliffe
SS: I don’t think I had a style icon when I was a kid. I remember when I was a teenager I was obsessed with Penny Lane from Almost Famous, that hippie movie about the teenager who gets an assignment from Rolling Stone and goes on the road with a rock & roll band. Penny Lane was the groupie played by Kate Hudson. There is a scene toward the end where she’s walking around with a fur jacket and underwear.
DS: I was always really into music. Constantly searching for new music on Limewire. And I convinced myself that the telephone poles had speakers on them and one day some man in charge would pick my name from a hat and I would get to introduce the entire world to only one song. So I mostly sat on my bed and pondered what song I would choose. Really listening to the music and the lyrics to find what I identify with.
SS: What are your top three favorite albums?
DS: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by the Smashing Pumpkins, Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount by From First to Last, and Dude Ranch by blink-182.
SS: I know you love going to movie theaters and watching films. Is that your favorite place to be? Where do you like to spend your time in the city?
DS: Yes, the movie theater. I’m also so happy where I live in the city, with my dog and my partner. I love just hanging at home when the day’s over.
SS: I’m getting out of the city. I’m gonna leave town and go somewhere else. There are so many different lives to be lived.
Samantha Sutcliffe is a photographer and director based in New York. She teaches at Uncensored New York and previously taught at the International Center of Photography and the Bushwick Community Darkroom. Follow her at @samanthasutcliffe.
Follow Destiny Strudwick at @destiny_strudwick.