Teenagers and Their Bedrooms

Author(s): Kit Grauer

Source: Visual Arts Research, Vol. 28, No. 2, Visual Culture (2002), pp. 86-93
Published by: University of Illinois Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20716067
Accessed: 24-10-2018 09:26 UTC

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Teenagers and Their Bedrooms
Kit Grauer
University of British Columbia

Abstract ness of the consumer value of teenagers,

as well as an awareness that their bed
The author begins by describing teenager's rooms are the repository of their most
bedrooms through the eyes of newspaper articles prized possessions.
and a recent photographic show. She examines Teen bedrooms might also be worth in
teenage bedrooms in terms of a psychology of
vestigating for their semiotic value. What
personal environments and locates them as a
understanding might they provide for inter
significant canvas on which teenagers write their
emerging and conflicted identities. In particular,
preting teen culture? The bedroom can be
the role of corporate, global culture as resource a site for an understanding of how mass
for identity construction is noted. A number of media and marketing affect adolescent
educational programs are then described which aesthetic choice. Even more critical might
the author has conducted with her pre-service be delineating the issues surrounding ado
art teachers. These programs include both studio lescents' personal space and how these
and discussion activities that draw attention to
ideas might apply to education practice.
the influence of corporate culture on teenage This is especially important in a context
bedrooms and, by extension, teenage identity.
where adults?parents and teachers
Teenagers are on the edge of rapid alike?often loathe and fear teenage cul
change. Their rooms contain all of their ture. As one preservice teacher wrote in
possessions, and yet these are the last one of my classes:
moments they will be living in their
I have a fear. There Is a voice that cries in
parent's homes. The past is crammed into
the same shelf as the future_Memen the darkness, with the shriek of a banshee,
tos from the first communion lie next to calling the lost. The sound pulls you in join
ing you to the ONE, stealing away your
overflowing ashtrays. I see teenagers as
both raw and clear. Adolescence is often self. This voice takes many forms; some
a time before one has learned to navi are strangers, some are friends. Yet they
all want to capture you, to fit you to their
gate public and private moods?a time
sight, their sound, their thoughts. It is too
when people are still vulnerable and un
much to ask but they want even more. To
able to make their masks opaque
resist, denial is the only thought. I will not
(Salinger, 1995, preface).
look into a mirror and see the face of a
Since I reviewed Adrienne Salinger's mannequin. I have fear. My fear is you,
book, In my room: Teenagers and their bed TEENAGE CULTURE. (Black, 1997).
rooms, it appears that wherever I look teen Nevertheless, teenage bedrooms can
agers are photographically represented in offer a site for everyday aesthetic under
their bedrooms. The preponderance of standing. The bedroom can be examined
articles in the popular press, from local for its semiotic significance and for the role
newspapers to national and international it plays in identity formation.
magazines and even Internet sites, that ad
dress teen culture through such images Documenting Teenager's Bedrooms
suggests that there is something about the
adolescent bedroom that is worth investi in my room: Teenagers and their bedrooms
gating. Certainly there is a growing aware (Salinger, 1995) was the result of a photo

86 VISUAL ARTS RESEARCH ? 2003 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

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graphic show that opened in New York in The image of the "universal teenager"
1991. The book is the visual and verbal was the focus of a study reported in For
record of 43 teenagers' private lives as in tune magazine (Tully, 1994). The U.S. ad
terpreted by the photographer. Salinger's agency BSB videotaped teenagers' bed
images, taken over a two-year period, pro rooms from Los Angeles to Jakarta. The
vide a cogent glimpse into these intimate result of the investigation was a practically
bedroom spaces and the adolescents who universal, unisex bedroom sanctuary
have made the rooms their own. Her pho stocked with Nike footwear, Levi jeans, and
tographs are case studies of teenagers. Sega and Nintendo video games. What the
While her subjects are now in their early article outined was the new rising consumer
thirties, as caught by the photographer in market of the global teenager. It went on to
that space and time they represent the detail the aggressive marketing strategies
bridge from childhood to adulthood. Each of the multinational corporations as they
of the objects in the rooms takes on added attempted to cash in on this consumer cul
significance about the hopes, dreams, and ture. It reported that Coca-Cola is conduct
fears of the teens pictured, as do the im ing a multiyear marketing study called "The
ages of the teens themselves. The bodily Global Teenager" that it hopes would de
postures, clothes, facial expressions, fine what the 13- to 19-year-old consumer
modes of dress, and most of all physical will want for years to come. This rampant
possessions define each teenage persona. commercial probing of the teenage market
Salinger's technical proficiency and trained and the contentious measures that multi
eye capture these with often heart-wrench nationals use in directing this market are
ing clarity. Her interviews with her subjects significant parts of the media awareness
accompany each photograph, illuminating that adolescents need to confront as they
the harsh realities of some of their lives. make choices about the objects in their lives.
Often we glorify youth and the teenage The bedroom is one of the few spaces
years but Salinger offers no such panacea. in which adolescents are able to compose
Her images speak to a world of confusion, their lives. Often it is the only room in their
drugs, sex, abuse, and racism. These are environment where they are able to bring
finely crafted pictures. The text that accom their own evolving sense of self to bear on
panies each is a few paragraphs distilled choices of decoration and the objects that
from two hours of transcribed video inter are meaningful in their lives. As an entry
views. point into issues of identity, the teenage
Salinger clearly has a story to tell and bedroom is a place of possible access.
she does so with vivid photographs and
gripping text. The original photographs A Psychology of Personal
have been showing in art galleries across Environments
North America for the past decade. Large
in format, they confront the viewer and It is apparent that people consciously or
challenge our perceptions of teenage ste unconsciously decorate their personal
reotypes. What seems amazing to the environments to express something about
viewer in the early 21st century is how themselves. At one level, this is not a new
much the consumer culture of adolescents insight. All of us have had the experience
has changed. It isn't just that the images of visiting a friend's or acquaintance's
in the posters are dated (nowhere are there home, office, or even classroom and be
the computers, video games, and CD coming aware of the facets of their values
players that are now a part of every made manifest by the environment. From
adolescent's bedroom furnishing). This the books on the shelves to the art and
book helps us explore what issues of ado artifacts on the walls, these objects repre
lescent identity are culturally and media sent more or less conscious decisions
driven. about personal expression and values.

Teenagers and Their Bedrooms 87

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 Not only do we, as human beings, make aspect of how humans relate to the world.
conscious decisions about the objects in "The possessions one selects to endow
our spaces, what is also intriguing and per with special meaning out of the total envi
haps less evident is that we also express ronment of artifacts are both models of the
aspects of our unconscious in our personal self as well as templates for future devel
environment. Clare Cooper Marcus in her opment" (p. 189). Aesthetic experience is
wonderfully titled book House as a mirror not limited to art alone but as a potential
of self: Exploring the deeper meaning of element of all experience. It is in this aes
/?ome(1995) connects the personalization thetic perception of objects that growth and
of space to Jungian theories of perception learning occur. In art making and aesthetic
of the unconscious and a striving toward response, the person can become fully
wholeness. engaged?mind, body, spirit, and emo
Learning to read messages made mani tions?in the activity. This immersed en
fest in dreams, waking insights, and cre gagement cultivates a mindset Mihalyi
ative endeavors assists us in our journey Csikszentmihalyi would call flow, a state
toward integration. The places that we live familiar to most artists. Peter London
in are reflections of that process, and in (1989) calls this "subtle, creative mind?
deed have a powerful effect on our jour the mind that is in touch with vision, the
ney. (Marcus, p. 10)
imagination and memories" (p. 49).
In this theory, when adolescents leave It is a commonplace that individuals
their rooms in a state of disarray, for ex actively and creatively sample available
ample, it might be an unconscious gesture cultural symbols, myths, and rituals as they
of defiance against their parents. From the produce their identities. For teens, the
posters on the wall to the clothes on the mass media are central to this process
floor, all make a statement about the evo because they are a convenient source of
lution of identity. cultural options (Brown, Dykers, and White,
As young people move through adoles 1994). Over the past 5 years, these au
cence, they become increasingly involved thors have pursued this line of reasoning
in "identity work" (Snow and Anderson, with a series of small-scale, primarily quali
1987, p. 1348), the process of creating a tative studies with adolescents. They have
sense of self in the context of the immedi found that getting teens to talk about their
ate and larger social world. The process of bedrooms is a productive way to establish
creating and expressing personal identity rapport, especially around sensitive issues
is the core work of adolescence. such as sex and alcohol use, and to un
Examining the personal space of the derstand in context who each person is in
bedroom and the objects that decorate and relation to the larger culture.
define that space provides a starting point The mass media, and the cultural views
for reflecting on personal identity. The ex they present, are a significant source of
amination of the role of objects in people's possible identities. But adolescents do not
definitions of who they are, who they have accept wholesale what is offered in the
been, and who they wish to become was media. As research from an "active audi
the focus of the book The Meaning of ence" perspective has shown, media re
Things: Domestic Symbols and the Self ception is an interactive process (Ang and
(Csikszentmithalyi and Rochberg-Halton, Hermes, 1991; Radway, 1984). Media
1981). The authors concluded that that the messages and materials are reshaped,
potential significance of things is realized refashioned, critiqued, and adapted to fit
in a process of actively cultivating a world emerging lives. Adolescents come to un
of meanings, which both reflect and help derstand media images with expectations
create the ultimate goals of one's exist and experiences that affect what they se
ence. They argue that aesthetic experience lect and how they use what the media of
is not a rarefied frill but a vitally important fer (Rosengren and Windahl, 1989). They

88 Kit Grauer

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use media, and the cultural insights pro in our lives that help us remember who we
vided by them, to see both whom they are or want to be. After time spent in the
might be and how others have constructed classroom (20%), adolescents spend al
or reconstructed themselves. Only recently most 13% of their waking time in their bed
have psychologists and other social scien rooms (Csikszentmihalyi and Larson, 1984).
tists begun to acknowledge how complex For many teens, the bedroom is a safe, pri
the task of identity formation really is. In vate space in which experimentation with
triguingly, categories of "self" are personal possible selves can be conducted.
and social. On the one hand, it is individual
adolescents who struggle with the dilemma Educational Practice
of living out all the "possible selves"
(Markus and Nurius, 1986) they can imag For many art educators the "journey work"
ine. And yet, it is society?parents, friends, of adolescence (Major, 1998, p. 14) should
schools, the media, and other social insti be the focus of an art classroom. In this
tutions?that dictates how those possible context, art is seen as the means of culti
selves should look, talk, feel, and act. In vating the inner self through reflective think
other words, the central roles to which ado ing, an exploration and enrichment of the
lescents aspire are modeled by both real journey along life's path. The art room be
life and media figures. Sociologists and comes a haven in an impersonal school
psychologists concur that identity is socially system. Art making and understanding
situated. A teenager does not experience personal aesthetic response are vehicles
the angst of constructing a self in a void to analyze and construct personal identity.
but rather in the middle of a world of soci Providing a safe environment where the
etal expectations and pressures that re search for identity can be reflectively de
quire public performances to "keep face" veloped is one of the themes of art educa
and, in some instances, to maintain physi tion. As Ron MacGregor (1995) says,
cal and emotional safety.
As an educator, what do I believe? What
Adolescents spend more than 40% of
their time in leisure activities that include may I, as an educator, reasonably ask oth
ers to believe? How may I, as an educa
watching television, listening to music, and
tor, provide conditions that will allow oth
reading magazines (Csikszentmihalyi and ers to develop sufficient faith in themselves
Larson, 1984). Given the wide array of to say: Here I am. I matter. ( p. 153)
media available, selecting what to watch,
read, or listen to is an integral component The importance of both constructing and
of media use. The average teen today can deconstructing our personal environments
choose from more and more specialized to learn more about our values and beliefs
radio and television channels, magazines, has been the focus of some discussion by
Internet sites, videotapes, and compact art educators (Brook Snider, 1987; Grauer,
discs. How do they make those choices? 1997; Mason, 1995). But how do we en
What do they do with what they choose? courage adolescents to take a similar criti
An adolescent's bedroom plays an impor cal look both at their own aesthetic choices
tant role in this process of self-definition. and how the media and advertisers shape
Sociocultural theorists and researchers their view of teen culture?
(Bourdieu, 1989; Vygotsky, 1978) and con The units and lessons that are de
sumer researchers (Belk, 1988; Wallendorf scribed in this section were all developed
and Arnould, 1988) have each considered by preservice and practicing art teachers
the interplay of material culture, personal working in secondary schools in British
space, and identity. In this context, adoles Columbia, Canada. The common theme
cents' rooms can be conceived of as medi was an exploration of teen culture and es
ating devices, a term used by Vygotsky pecially an understanding of everyday aes
(1978) and others to describe those things thetics as it applied to the lives of adoles

Teenagers and Their Bedrooms 89

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cents. In some of the units, teen bedrooms from careful cropping to the expressions
figured prominently as the site of aesthetic on the faces of those portrayed. Discus
exploration, in others, the bedroom played sions about prospective audience and val
a more supportive role. ues portrayed were linked to the ideas of
Starting with looking at how specific art portraiture and why people make art. Stu
ists and journalists use images of teen bed dents were asked to grapple with the con
rooms was a strong introduction to the topic cept that adolescents' rooms can be con
for many adolescents. Adrienne Salinger's ceived of as "mediating devices" or sites
photographs of teens in their bedrooms of exploration of self and identity. Did their
(Salinger, 1995) have been the inspiration room help describe those things in their
for a number of teachers to have adoles lives that helped them remember who they
cents reflect on the images and the mean were or wanted to be? Discussion of where
ing behind these works of art. Many teach personal space was possible in an
ers used the images directly from the book; adolescent's world helped clarify that, for
in the case of Julie Lymburner's class, they many teens, the bedroom is a safe, private
were able to see the actual show when it space in which personal identity could be
came to the Surrey Art Gallery in constructed and reconstructed.
Vancouver. The Salinger images are strong In a followup exercise, the students
photographic portrayals that grip the teen were asked to take two contrasting "bed
age viewer with their directness and real room portraits" of themselves or of a friend.
world attitude to the subjects represented. They could interpret the idea of contrast
These images were in sharp contrast to a as they chose. In their artist statements,
series of weekly features run in the social they were to give evidence about what was
section of a local Vancouver newspaper revealed and what that might tell the viewer
(Gillette, 1997). In these images, smiling about the subject. As well, they had to
teenagers are pictured in their bedrooms, choose an intended audience for each of
and the superficial interviews that accom the images. Could the same room and per
pany them ask questions about the teen's son be photographed in ways that told two
collections, whether they like to clean their different stories? Were both images "truth
room, and their hobbies and friends. Sev ful," as many identities are possible within
eral magazine articles, including an article the same person? Discussion about com
from People magazine that celebrated position and about the meaning of objects
teenage celebrities in their bedrooms was rich and exciting as these adolescents
(People, 1997) were also included in the tried to find the personal in the stereotype.
set of materials that secondary school stu The class that saw the actual Salinger
dents were shown. The students were show also saw an accompanying show by
given these sets of images and asked to a local photographer who was commis
comment on them. They were introduced sioned by the art gallery to work with teens
to some basic ideas of semiotics: how to on another site of adolescent identity. The
read images for signs and symbols as well show "Hanging out in the mall" used pro
as literal content and the distinction be fessional photos of teens and images taken
tween denotation and connotation. The by the teens themselves to explore teen
main objective was to have students con culture issues. In the artist's statements
structively criticize the portrayal of teenag produced back in the classroom after their
ers as well as to understand the visual own creation, the echoes of some of these
qualities that gave the photographs impact. issues are clear:
By carefully analyzing the various rep Within my piece, I've tried to show some
resentations of teens in their rooms, stu of the contradictions within the role women
dents were quickly able to identify the de play in popular culture. In exploring the
vices used to highlight specific qualities that media to see the different portrayals of
the photographer wished to emphasize, women, I realized that all our lives, women

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 are bombarded with contradictory and who is a set designer in the movie indus
hypocritical images, all trying to tell us try. She was looking to decorate a bedroom
what to be .... In the end most women
set that represented an early adolescent
will discover for themselves that the truth
child of a creative couple. She boxed my
of their place within society lies within
son's possessions and recreated them on
themselves. (Diana Griffin, Grade 12)
the movie set. The final set was criticized
The effect of the media on the search for the diversity and eclecticism of the ob
for identity was the central theme of an jects. "Would a real child want to live in
other aspect of the exploration developed such a room?" the director asked. This
by a preservice teacher (Black, 1997). The story helps point out the subtle power that
students were asked to define what teen movie and television sets have on our un
culture meant to them and to the media and conscious. Are the images they represent
whether these definitions were mutually shaping our sense of what is the right look?
exclusive. Adolescents are surrounded by The idea that Coca-Cola was conduct
images from the media about teenagers. ing a multiyear marketing study called "The
Although they had examined magazine and Global Teenager," that it hopes would de
book images, the discussion progressed fine what the 13- to 19-year-old consumer
to include movie, television and the ubiq will want for years to come, was a great
uitous rock video images. The art teacher eye opener for many adolescents. After
began a dialogue that allowed the teenag much discussion that others might be
ers to identify and respond to these and fooled but not the individuals in their class,
more pervasive advertising images. A class students returned to their bedrooms and
collage was developed on one wall of the calculated the number of objects that they
art room where students cut images and prized that were marketed to this univer
text from popular magazines or made their sal teenager. In a follow-up discussion
own images that depicted teenage culture. many said they were amazed at how much
The bulletin board was divided into two sec the media were a part of their lives but how
tions: "The media says..." and "I believe. little they had noticed it. The question of
..." In their visual journals, students were choice and creation through rearranging
asked to respond to the following ques and restructuring alternative possibilities
tions: How much do the media influence from material culture were explored.
our beliefs and values? as a society? and Students in another class were asked
as an individual? How do the media for to create a sculpture that would represent
mulate our notions of what is acceptable their personal response to the issue of the
or desirable? Do the media influence teen universal teenager. An exemplar unit that
age culture or does teenage culture influ was prepared for the BC Visual Arts Re
ence the media? How do the media influ source Package was modified to suit the
ence how we see and feel about ourselves exploration. Containers of your mind: Pack
and others? aging your social consciousness (British
Selected images and advertisements Columbia Ministry of Education, 1995) asks
were discussed in small groups and indi students to become involved in art as so
vidual response collages were recorded in cial commentators. After much draft work
the visual journals. Stories were ex and discussion, the students created con
changed about using the "right" brand of tainers to represent feelings and emotions
some product or on what was "sweet" at about teen culture issues. The containers
that given period in time. visually represented the students' personal
What looks right at any one specific time reflections and concerns using a variety of
and place is often very subtle, and I offered materials such as paper, wood, and clay
the students the following personal anec found objects and techniques such as
dote as an example. In my own family, my collage, assemblage, and construction.
son had had his room "rented" by a friend The final display of these containers in

Teenagers and Their Bedrooms 91

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