Teenage Bedrooms
Through our Grown Up in Britain campaign of public submissions to the archive we have curated this digital exhibit of teen bedrooms spanning the past 100 years.
The teenage bedroom is known as a battleground of youth expression. Sometimes we invite our friends in and other times we slam the door to shut the world out. Bedrooms become the canvas and we become the artist - even if mum still thinks it’s all a mess.
"Their rooms contain all of their possessions and yet these are the last moments they will be living in their parents' homes. The past is crammed into the same shelf as the future."
These pictures show adolescence laid bare in the very first place we get to call our own. As teenagers, we begin to take on the influence of the people and cultures we meet away from home and while we grow and learn from them we take back to our rooms all the symbols and memories from our newfound communities. Every club flyer, passed around book and scratched record dazzles us so we hang them over our walls to remind us of the world we are still getting our grip on. Choosing the right poster layout is just as important as choosing a career path at this point in our youth. Four walls that hold within them relics of the past and hopes for the future, each item is an affirmation to the person we are becoming.
‘‘Young people’s bedrooms are also quite complex spaces to understand, often spaces of contradiction.’’
"This picture, I reckon illustrates how obsessed we were with the so called Madchester era especially The Stone Roses who we all adored. No pun intended. They really did change us all from what we wore, how we grew our hair to us all forming bands. I was 16 in 1989 and they arrived at just the right time. The picture here is in a friend's bedroom, she's taking the photo. I'm on the left, my sister in middle and a mate on the right. This would be around the summer of 1990. Great days".
The more autonomy we have the more expectations get placed on us by parents, school and society. Refusal to accept the path laid out for us can be worked out in our bedrooms, away from the gaze of our elders. A teenage bedroom rarely stays the same for long. Moving around furniture, taping up a polaroid of your new crush or ripping down the one of that mate who betrayed you. It’s a room for play and exploration, although we’d be mortified if our parents said we were just playing around. This space to make mistakes, journal the day and dance like nobody’s watching is crucial in developing our understanding of ourselves emotionally and physically. No matter how seriously we want to be taken by the world the one place we can always let our guard down is in the bedroom. When we’re not quite at the age of clubs, bars and moving out there is little space we have to explore our identity. Trying new things in the comfort of home feels safe because we know we can’t stray too far but as soon as the fake ID’s come through the hairspray is out and so are we.
Often our bedrooms are influenced by the rest of our home far more than we would like to admit. Desperate to show that we are making our own decisions and thinking our own thoughts we choose to digress from family regulations as much as possible. The material resources available to us, the limits to what is acceptable to have on show and how many people we share the room with are all dictated by our culture and class status.
"A typical night, smoking a zoot, playing with my camera and listening to Massive Attack. When life was so much more simple."
As modernism has taken over we have seen two key changes in the function of the private and public sphere for teenagers. Due to increasing media panic the streets have become considered more dangerous with parents encouraging their children to rush home after school. In addition to this consumerism has taken over meaning we can buy any piece of entertainment we desire to stop us needing the outdoors to socialise. More and more products began being marketed at teenagers with the knowledge their rooms were being used to hoard signifiers of the culture teens most identified with. With portable TV’s and cassette players available on the high street there is no longer a need for a designated entertainment room in the family home, instead we can journey to new worlds whilst tucked under our duvet. This has only been exacerbated with mobile phones and social media, now even when our friends aren’t allowed round they are never more than a couple of taps away. If it wasn’t for a roast dinner in the oven there would be no need to ever leave our rooms. As we’ve increasingly spent more time stuck in our rooms we have also been more able than ever before to mentally escape.
Youth comes with confusion and uncertainty that can’t be avoided. Our bodies are changing at a pace we can’t keep up with, emotions take over with no notice and questions to authority go unanswered. When the future feels unstable it can feel grounding to return to a place that we have control over. From spells and shrines to sweet nothings these rooms have seen it all and now they invite you to see them too.
"This is (was) my bedroom back in the day - the walls reflected my loves and life at the time .... Holly Hobby clock & calendar , Japanese parasol mobile, juxtaposed with Madness record sleeve, Japan poster, Athena graphics cards and images of Duran Duran. *Lots* of Duran Duran ... Such was the transition from girl to teenager in 1982. Like everyone else at the time I would tape any vinyl LPs I'd bought (less wear & tear), and you can just about see my cassettes neatly aligned, all labelled with the greatest of care and precision. The stereo I had to save up for, which even at sale price had a ticket of £130 from Rediffusion."
During our 2021 Spring pop-up exhibit on Carnaby Street we set up a bedroom installation complete with photo booth prints, a signed school shirt and working Atari. What item would you add to the room to keep the spirit of your teenage bedroom alive?
The Pop-Up is open until June 21st 2021 at 3 Carnaby Street, London, W1F 9PB.
Monday - Saturday 11-6pm
Sunday 12-5pm