21 days of Hong Kong hotel quarantine captured in 21 nude self-portraits by French photographer

Vanessa Victoria Franklin admits she’s slightly obsessive. “This photo here,” she says, pointing to an image of a key resting on her right buttock, “it was the most difficult and took 300 attempts. I became crazy about this photo because I wanted it just right, to perfectly capture the light reflecting off the metal key.”

Franklin’s pursuit for perfection paid off. The photo – titled day 17 and easily mistaken as a bent knee – has received the most positive feedback in her series, “21 days by VV Franklin”, an exhibition of nude self-portraits documenting the French photographer’s recent hotel quarantine.

On show at the F22 Foto Space in The Peninsula Arcade, “21 days” explores themes of self-identity and freedom of movement. The use of nudity, Franklin says, is a way to express her raw emotions.

“I’m naked because it was a way to put things as they were,” she says, adding that a lot of her work is about female identity and challenging the male gaze. “I didn’t want to cheat. I wanted to show my fragility.”

The self-portraits – one photo for each of the 21 days – include references to the German-Australian photographer Helmut Newton, best seen in an image of Franklin wearing only a pair of blue cleaning gloves. The series is also heavily influenced by Surrealism.

“I’m a big fan of René Magritte,” she says, referring to the Belgian surrealist known for depicting ordinary objects in an unusual context.

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Some images also make subtle nods to her time in Japan – she used to live there and has shown her works at the Hasselblad gallery in Tokyo and the Imura Art Gallery in Kyoto.

“The rope in the image of the key was tied using shibari,” she says, referring to the ancient Japanese art of rope bondage.

But mostly, she wanted to capture how she felt at the time. Day 17 is a picture of her with her house key thinking of going home.

Franklin had not planned to spend 21 days in a room where the windows don’t open. That decision was made for her by the Hong Kong government while she was catching up with family in France.

“Last summer, in August, I left Hong Kong to visit my family who I had not seen in almost two years,” she says. Two days after she landed in Paris, Hong Kong’s quarantine period for travellers coming from France was extended by a week.

“I was not prepared for that. I wouldn’t have left Hong Kong if I had known it was a three-week quarantine but I didn’t have a choice, so in a way it was a good thing because the worst part about quarantine is the anticipation of it.”

As it turned out, time in isolation proved a creative incubation period. Routine is key to keeping sane, she adds.

“Mornings were for yoga and meditation, at 1pm I would call my father, while the afternoons were dedicated to the photography project.”

Considering the hotel room’s windows did not open, it’s ironic that Franklin’s experience in quarantine turned out to be a breath of fresh air among many quarantine “horror” stories. She entered quarantine worried about her mental health and emerged with a better understanding of herself.

And time inside room 2506 of the Nina Hotel Island South had another unexpected outcome. “I got in better shape than I’ve ever been,” she says.

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Franklin, who is co-founder of Hong Kong-based Boogie Woogie Photography, says the show would not have been possible if F22 Foto Space owner Douglas So had not had a Leica CL camera delivered to her room.

She is now planning another quarantine stay – “in my opinion, the time spent with family outweighs any stress caused by quarantine”, she says. Which means that another photography project is on the horizon.

“Photography is my whole life – it’s how I express myself, how I communicate.”

“21 days by VV Franklin”, F22 Foto Space, shops W16 and W18, The Peninsula Arcade, Salisbury Rd, Kowloon. Ends Feb 15. The exhibition contains nudity and is restricted to visitors aged 18 and above.