The bedroom project | 2013-2015

We can spend many hours, days, even weekends in the homes of friends and relatives without ever seeing their bedrooms where fully a third of one’s life is lived. For The Bedroom Project, I ask friends, relatives, and acquaintances for permission to photograph their bedrooms, bringing their private space into public view. I create intimate portraits of the couples and individuals through their private sanctuaries, where secrets are shared and dreams are dreamt. 

I was curious if their beds and décor would reflect the people as I know them, or if I would learn anything new about them. I became aware of items in the bedrooms that have deep meaning for the individual and tell a personal story. Even the short amount of time I spent in these private rooms left me with a better understanding of the individual.

Historically, domestic personal space barely existed well into 19th century America. Most families lived in a single room that served all household functions including sleeping. By late 19th and early 20th century, separate rooms for living and sleeping became the norm.  This change led to today’s bedroom as sanctuary.

Believing that art lives in the space between the viewer’s eye and the artwork itself, I like to imagine that the viewer creates inhabitants who will become an inherent part of the picture and fill the bedrooms with life. I wonder how these imagined people reflect aspects and personalities of the actual people who, in fact, live/lived in each particular bedroom.