Artifacts of the era... Upon hearing the triad of these words, our imagination enthusiastically draws the pieces of art that, in myriad subtleties, narrate the generational countenance in various art forms – from porcelain with Сhinoiserie motifs to nonchalant pastoral landscapes. The unsurpassed eloquence belongs to portraits, where the ambiance and various trinkets in the background possess the gift of storytelling along with a brushstroke or camera flash.
Speaking of the photographs, sometimes it takes quite an unexpected turn when the role of chroniclers is incumbent upon the inhabitants of the interior. Today we present the arresting journey of two illustrious photographers – Adrienne Salinger and Horst Wackerbarth, who conveyed the versatile personalities of young denizens of New York’s downtown in the late 1980s and early 1990s and recorded a new "Family of Mankind" using furniture in the bedroom and the red sofa.
Adrienne Salinger: Teen Bedrooms in the 90s
“Was Chaos a god – a divine being – or simply a state of nothingness? Or was Chaos, just as we would use the word today, a kind of terrible mess, like a teenager’s bedroom?”
Adrienne Salinger, In my room : teenagers in their bedrooms – Kirk B., 16, Seattle, Washington, 1984
In the first chapter of Stephen Fry's book "Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold" which in a witty and vivacious manner describes how, after a grand cosmic yawn, Nothingness spawned atoms that somehow coalesced into matter, forming planet Earth , the Olympians, and humankind, you will encounter the acrimonious prejudice that adolescents lock themselves within unformidable fortresses, crammed with a mishmash of commodities that are impossible to declutter.
In My Room: A Photography Book That Became a Cult Classic
Adrienne Salinger, In my room : teenagers in their bedrooms – Andreen B., 19, Cazenovia, New York, 1990
Alas, from the perspective of adulthood, where a sweet disorder usually equals an irrevocably clogged mind, the mayhem in decor looks alarming. Therefore, when in 1995 American photographer Adrienne Salinger published the book "In My Room: Teenagers in Their Bedrooms ", where boys and girls from all over the USA West Coast cordially invited everybody to glimpse into their private sanctuaries, the paperback edition caused quite a stir, became a revelation and brought hitherto unimaginable success, selling nearly 24,000 copies in its first few years.
From Affordable Paperback to Collectors’ Item
Back then, the price tag didn't exceed the cost of the CD because, as it was conceived by the artist herself, she wanted it to be affordable for those whom she captured.
Adrienne Salinger, In my room : teenagers in their bedrooms – Larry P., 17, Syracuse, New York, 1990
Considering the collection's cult status, hundreds of print and online articles, interviews, and exhibitions at museums all around the globe, nowadays a secondhand, first-edition copy can sell for hundreds of dollars on eBay and Amazon.When Salinger saw how much the book was going for these days, her eyebrows raised heavenward, and that's when she decided it was the most opportune moment for a reprint. A rejuvenated, expanded version premiered this year, and the 2025 edition featured 26 additional photos, which Adrienne made after moving to Chicago to study and teach photography. She continued the series prolifically on the East Coast and in Native Indian reservations.
Gaining Trust: Photographing Teenagers at Home
For the briefest of seconds let's clad ourselves in the garb of an overprotective mom and imagine a scene when you and your daughter stand in line for the toilet at the shopping mall or hunt for distressed denim and suddenly spot a woman who confidently approaches you and asks, "Can I come home with you and take a picture of your kid in her bedroom? No cleaning is required; parents are not allowed to disturb”. Most likely, the following swarm of thoughts would have already resulted in feverishly calling the police, but according to Salinger, in spite of parental vigilance, she was rarely turned down.
The stipulated forbearance from tidying up in a room was the crucial thing that literally resurfaced the anxieties on the edge of rapid change. The models we behold reside in the interregnum, where childhood slowly hands over the reins to impending independence. Though their juvenile years were far from unclouded and serene. After the photoshoot, Salinger conducted the extended video interviews, where teenagers bared their souls, divulging the bitter truth behind the relaxed posing.
Danielle: A Carefully Curated Room and a Hidden Diagnosis
Adrienne Salinger, In my room : teenagers in their bedrooms – Danielle D., 17, Syracuse, New York, 1990
The heart-shattering story unfolds when we meet Danielle, seventeen years old, a girl from Syracuse, New York, who elegantly sits in a white wicker chair, propping her chin and captivating the viewer with her whimsical outfit of a Breton stripe T-shirt, khaki shorts, and tube socks. Flower-printed pillowcases and bedsheets, pink pointe shoes hanging down from a pushpin board with inspirational postcards and quotes... Who would have thought that this seemingly carefree princess underwent a manic episode after which she spent thirty days in a mental hospital and was diagnosed as bipolar? The text on the opposite side reveals that, in the photograph, she is taking lithium.
Gavin: Rebellion, Recovery and Confinement
Adrienne Salinger, In my room : teenagers in their bedrooms – Gavin Y., 18, Liverpool, New York, 1990
While Danielle's interiors divert attention from tragic inner upheavals by emphasizing prevailing ladylike infatuations, the barren landscape of other rooms rather bluntly conveys the ordeals that have fallen to the lot of their inhabitants, as in the case of Gavin. Y, an eighteen-year-old rebel from Liverpool, New York. The boy intently stares at the camera, his hair bleached, eyes generously rimmed with eyeliner, lips rough and pressed together. The hands in fingerless gloves clench the latticed headboard. Unfortunately, the resemblance to the bars creates eerie symbolism when Gavin tells Salinger about the five months he spent in rehab for alcohol abuse and his fears of ending up in jail or a bum because of his past.
