Location: USA

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 as well as America at this time in history. 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 scope of the project is all fifty states in the United States.

The bedroom is not just a private place, but a sacred place. We build it as a shrine to our lives (even if houseless) and spend nearly one-third of our lives in it. It exemplifies our being; it is a place to rest, to love, to comfort, to be, to give life, to restore, to recover, to grieve, to lay sick to die. One thing for certain is that all lives are important, and everyone has a story to tell.

When physical doors opened to me, there was a veil of religion, politics, and ideologies that mysteriously and magically lifted. During the sessions with my subjects, what filled the conversations were the big things: Loneliness, loss, sorrow, regret, disappointment, re-awakening, self- awareness, wisdom, acceptance, contentment, and happiness. Perhaps because someone was there to listen, perhaps because the spotlight was finally on them. What appeared was the bare soul of a human life, a story, and purity of heart that rose like cream to the top. This is not a look at our differences – although there may be many – it is about our likenesses, our loves, our dreams, and all the threads of commonality that connect us as human beings.

ABOUT BARBARA PEACOCK

Barbara Peacock is an assignment photographer living in Portland, Maine. She studied fine arts at Boston University School of Fine Arts, and 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 for commercial clients and for Getty Images.

Commercial clients include Arm & Hammer, Coca-Cola, Disney, Toyota, Volkswagen & Nickelodeon and more.

Among the long term projects she committed on, “Hometown”–1982- 2015 – is 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; “American Bedroom – Reflections on the Nature of Life” – 2016 -2023 is a cultural and anthropological study of Americans in their private dwelling: their bedrooms. The project took seven years of travel to complete photographing in all fifty US states. Published by Kehrer Verlag and printed in Heidelberg, Germany 2023.

Barbara founded a non-profit organization in 2010 – ‘The Nightingale Project’ that teaches art and photography to needy children. The program travels with a mix of adults and high school students. Journeys so far have been to Haiti, Cambodia, and New York.