AMERICAN BEDROOM
Reflections on the Nature of Life
BY BARBARA PEACOCK
‘Dismantle and rebuild (the urge to destroy is a creative urge, a natural reset) build a home in you, a home in me. Together home is always growing, always being redefined-dismantled, and rebuilt. We see each other; we make space for each other. And here, we are always safe inside.’
Barbara Peacock © All rights reserved.
“I am drawn to the quiet, magisterial beauty of people half lost in memory, with too much time on their hands or in silent paradox. I argue and persuade that these subjects matter. I realized that I wanted to illustrate my love and influence of painting with this project.” – Barbara Peacock
‘The bed, like sexuality, is a place to find healing and self.’
Barbara Peacock © All rights reserved.
American Bedroom is a cultural and anthropological study of Americans in their private dwelling: the bedroom. The nature of the project is unguarded portraits of individuals, couples, and families that reveal the depth of their character, truth, and spirit. The images are paired with poetic and pithy quotes from each subject and are full of subtle details that invite us to contemplate the idiosyncrasies of each enigmatic life. The scoop of the project is the entire United States.
My interest lies in the poetic resonance of ordinary subjects, much in the convention of our forefather of the documentary tradition, Walker Evans.
‘In the end, it’s all about the love of family and one another.’
Barbara Peacock © All rights reserved.
I follow his practice of photographing commonplace subjects, working-class Americans, beneath notice and yet the very fabric of our nation. I am passionate but not sentimental about America, as evident in my monograph Hometown.
I am drawn to the quiet, magisterial beauty of people half lost in memory, with too much time on their hands or in silent paradox. I argue and persuade that these subjects matter.
I realized that I wanted to illustrate my love and influence of painting with this project. When I was a child, I watched my Mother paint by window light, and as a result, I have been drawn to painting and interior light.
In 2016 I began the American Bedroom project, and after two years, I won the Getty Editorial Grant that has allowed me to travel and expand the depth of the project. The final result will be a landscape book presented in four sections – East, West, North, and South as well as exhibits with large 60 x 40 prints enabling the viewers to see the minutiae and tiny details of the daily lives of Americans.
– Barbara Peacock – Portland, Maine USA
‘We’ve been off the grid for 20 years – we are committed and enjoy helping creative people with their art.’
Barbara Peacock © All rights reserved.
Anna, age 21 | ‘As I move through each era of myself, I fall increasingly in love with the new version. Loving myself wholly and aggressively is the most radical thing I’ve ever done.
Ruby Age 22 | ‘I am fulfilled by the concept that love is a spectrum, whether romantic, platonic, or somewhere in between. After a lonely childhood, I have finally found my place in this new chapter of life that gives me comfort and joy that I have never experienced before.’
Barbara Peacock © All rights reserved.
‘We hold this together with our bare bodies, hands, and hearts. Lavishly and somewhat simple, we found this love between us one day, and we are grateful for it every day. ‘
Barbara Peacock © All rights reserved.
BARBARA PEACOCK
Barbara Peacock is an assignment photographer living in Portland, Maine. She studied fine arts at Boston University School of Fine Arts, photography, and filmmaking at The School for the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts University. She began as a street photographer and gradually became an assignment lifestyle photographer.
Commercial clients include Arm & Hammer, Coca-Cola, Disney, Toyota, Volkswagen & Nickelodeon. Editorial clients include People, Newsweek, Real Simple, Family Circle, Oprah, and Family Fun.
‘Endless highways and dodgy motels; wandering across this crumbling country in search of an idyllic place to build our self-sustainable home and future. Together we are completely ready to embrace The Age of Aquarius.’
Barbara Peacock © All rights reserved.
In 2016 Peacock published her work Hometown – 1982-2015 – A thirty-year photographic project of the small town where she grew up and continued to live as an adult. Published by Bazan Photos Publishing, Brooklyn, NY. Printed in the USA by Puritan Capital.
The current project, American Bedroom- Reflections on the Nature of Life, is a cultural and anthropological study of Americans’ private dwellings in their bedrooms. It will encompass the entire United States. American Bedroom was the recipient of the Getty Editorial Grant 2017 and two Lens Culture Awards.
‘We are tattered and distressed, emotionally wiped, just lost a baby, and repairing our relationship. We were made for each other from across the oceans; we found each other.’
Barbara Peacock © All rights reserved.
