Little Retreat

Gina Barrett appears in a boutique-hotel nook dressed entirely in white, a snug bandeau top across her bust and ribbed drawstring shorts riding high on her thighs, white knee-high socks completing the angelic colour scheme. The room around her is anything but plain: a carved wooden sunburst mirror hangs on a teal-dark wall, a rattan stool wears a sheepskin throw, and wide plank hardwood gleams underfoot. Her blonde-streaked bob is tousled and undone, her blue eyes wide and curious, and the whole setting feels like a hidden corner of somewhere far away. Little Retreat is the kind of place you discover by accident and never want to leave.

Gina turns to trail her fingers across the sunburst mirror, the white shorts riding up to reveal the lower crescent of her behind, before pulling the bandeau down and away in one fluid motion. She stands with her feet planted wide, the drawstring shorts bunching in one hand, her chest bare and lit by the warm overhead fixture, white socks the only stitch remaining below the waist. In the closing frame she sits with her legs folded, entirely nude, blonde hair falling across one shoulder, the teal wall and rustic textures forming a moody, painterly backdrop. The look on her face is quiet and private, as though the camera caught her in the middle of a thought she was not planning to share.