Photographs by Adrienne Salinger: No Parents Allowed

Within the Nineteen Eighties and ’90s, Adrienne Salinger photographed American youngsters of their pure habitat: their bed room. Salinger was fascinated by the way in which these areas mirrored the personalities of their inhabitants. In an period earlier than smartphones and social media, youngsters used the partitions of their room to reveal their good style in hair bands and hip-hop teams, commemorate their accomplishments, and assemble their id. These areas, Salinger wrote in her 1995 guide, In My Room, have been “the repository for our reminiscences and the expressions of our needs and self-image.”Tracy, 15, Seattle, Washington, 1984Jeff, 16, Fayetteville, New York, 1990Salinger’s guide, reissued this month, options portraits of dozens of youngsters. The photographs seize an inflection level between childhood and adolescence: Her topics pose amongst stuffed animals and pinups, dolls and drug paraphernalia. In a single picture, a lady named Ellen stands beside a neat bookshelf, clutching a violin. On the wall behind her is a poster of James Dean astride a motorbike—just under it, a brochure from Brown.Ellen, 17, Fayetteville, New York, 1990Christina, 15, Seattle, Washington, 1984Most of the rooms Salinger visited—of wealthy and poor teenagers alike—have been illuminated by a single gentle fixture on the middle of the ceiling. She introduced her personal studio lights, which might ceaselessly blow a fuse. As she arrange her tools, she and her topics would speak, typically for hours. Then she would take {a photograph}, and the kids would see their room—and themselves—in a brand new gentle.Adrienne Salinger: Youngsters in Their BedroomsBy Adrienne SalingerPhotos courtesy of Adrienne Salinger / D.A.P. This text seems within the September 2025 print version with the headline “No Mother and father Allowed.”​Whenever you purchase a guide utilizing a hyperlink on this web page, we obtain a fee. Thanks for supporting The Atlantic.