Thru the Keyhole: A Bedroom Portrait Series

Sara Lin (she/her) – Rochester Hills, MI
Wi-fi Network name: Madame Ovaries

According to Sara Lin, her room is “pretty girly.” She gathers room inspiration from going to estate sales, which she began to do during her freshman year at the University with her mom, and later by herself. Lin goes to estates with the intention of filling her room with pink, “grandma”-esque, maximalist decor. Lin enjoys the dainty things, like items with flowers, roses or any floral trim. “On one hand it’s kinda sad that someone died and that’s why their stuff is for sale but you can learn everything about someone by looking around a room,” Lin mused while speaking to her numerous estate sale ventures. One of her most notable estate sale pickups was a music box made in Western Germany before the wall fell. This music box found a place on Lin’s trinket shelf, which she takes pride in, as every miniature item on the shelf has its own unique acquisition story. 

Not only has Lin’s mom inspired her decor through a shared love of estate sales, but she also sparked the beginning of her journey as a plant mom, which is something that they now bond over. Lin has stamped her room with a green thumbprint, filling the space with a bountiful variety of plants. Her plant mom journey began last summer out of boredom and a desire to make her room look more interesting. She started with a handful of plants but felt as if it wasn’t enough to keep her occupied. Lin now has over 25 plants in her room and she enjoys the daily caretaking routines that come along with the ownership. “I hate succulents, which is why I only have one. I don’t like low-maintenance plants. I like high-maintenance plants! I like taking care of them. They are my babies,” Lin exclaimed. She then told us about her latest hobby of “prop-lifting,” in which she cuts off pieces of plants around campus to propagate and grow them in her own space. More than five of her babies have been “prop-lifted” and she’s excited to pick up even more plants at the farmer’s market now that the weather is getting warmer. 

While Lin uses Pinterest at times, she noted that it can be hard to take inspiration from the app because oftentimes the images and what they represent are unachievable. She prefers to look at old ladies’ houses and estate sales to find inspiration for her room. She stated that her room now takes shape by itself, and akin to her plants, grows and evolves on its own. As long as there’s free space on her walls, Lin will continue to add newly acquired items to her space. “I want it to look like I’ve been living here for ten years!” she laughed.

Ishan Biswas (he/him) – West Bloomfield, MI
Wi-fi Network name: Chotu Penu

Ishan Biswas’ room is a time capsule of the interests that he’s held since his youth. Much of his possessions have been recycled since childhood. To him, each item in the room individually is more important than how they work together — he takes pride in the mismatched state of his room. He admits that his room feels very scatterbrained, serving as a direct reflection of the chaotic nature of life as a college student. His self-proclaimed “cluttercore” room doesn’t require much thought when deciding what will be placed within it. Biswas stated, “(If) I fuck with you, I’m gonna put you on my wall.” 

He credits much of his taste in interior design to his mom and older sister, from whom he has been taking inspiration since childhood. He reminisces about his mom’s art studio, which contains a wall of postcards and show posters that she collected throughout the ’90s as a student. That wall had always intrigued him and was something that he looked up to in terms of design and cohesion. He laughs while telling us about his sister’s old Harry Potter-themed wall, complete with magazine clippings and references to the iconic franchise. This inspired him to make a wall of his own, focused on cars. Biswas recalled not knowing which cars were cool or special, joking that he had a photo of a Chrysler minivan hung up in his childhood bedroom. His love for car-related decor has followed him into college, most prominently evident in his room by the three hubcaps attached to his wall, all of which were found on the street. “It just makes me feel very comfortable that I’m still hanging onto a hobby that I really liked as a kid that my understanding of has grown throughout the years,” he reflected. 

From his love for car-related collector’s items, Biswas grew a love for physical media, especially from the auto shows he would go to as a kid. He would always leave with a bag full of pamphlets, posters and miscellaneous car-related items. He noted that over time, car shows have become increasingly digitized, with less opportunity to acquire physical goods and materials, and believes he doesn’t grasp the same expression with digital materials, missing the feeling of physical art. 

To Biswas, his room has never been “complete” in his life. He considers what’s in his room to be leftovers of the life he lives. It’s everchanging and he doesn’t think that he’ll ever find the last piece to the puzzle that is his bedroom. He is constantly considering what he might stumble upon and be able to fit inside his space. “In a dream world, I would have the same room for decades and I would keep adding stuff to it. I would be constantly getting more and more satisfied with it,“ he remarked.

Nina Walker (they/she) – Southfield, MI
Wi-fi Network name: forest homium

To step into Nina Walker’s room is to be encapsulated in a burst of vibrancy. A space defined by Walker’s love for music, bright colors and dressing like a Subway Surfers character, their bedroom is a direct threat to insipid, boring rooms everywhere. 

Walker cited the A24 film “Mid90s” as one of their inspirations for interior decor, recalling the overwhelming amount of posters and music-related content in the characters’ bedrooms. 

“That is something I would like to implement now that I’ve seen it but I think that’s something I already do,” Walker mused. Their room is covered with the work of their favorite artists as well as photos of musicians they’ve followed since their youth, like Childish Gambino. Much of Walker’s room decor is also artwork of themself, which they attribute to their astrological sign, Leo, who are often trademarked by an elevated sense of self-confidence. The only thing that Walker’s room is missing is their record player and speaker setup, as a way to show off their expansive vinyl collection.

The vibrancy doesn’t just stop at wall decor for Walker — their wardrobe is equally as bright, which they use as another way to deck out their room. They always try to coordinate their eclectic wardrobe and shoe collection with whatever is on their walls and vice versa. 

“As far as decor, I just try to think of how I can use things I already have,” Walker said. “A lot of the clothes I chose to display — I don’t even wear them that often, but I think they’re cute so I would rather have them out than pushed in my closet.”

Walker’s social media presence serves as a major influence to their interior-design decisions. They take bedroom design ideas from fashion influencers on apps like TikTok and try to match their bedroom with their personal brand. Walker’s social media pages are intentionally aligned with what their room looks like — bright, colorful, and bubbly. 

“I don’t even know if that’s reflected in my character, but I like the look of it,” Walker joked.

Bennett Mejia (he/him) – Grand Rapids, MI (by way of Los Angeles, CA)
Wi-fi Network name: jeffybuffet

Upon entering Bennett Mejia’s room, there is no other appropriate reaction except shock after seeing the California King-sized bed in the center of the space. He laughed as we marveled at the luxury item, a rarity to witness on any college campus. He was excited to have us in his space, as we caught him on a “reset” day — one full of new candles, fresh laundry and folded, California King-sized bedsheets.

Mejia’s room is defined by its simplistic, yet well-curated look. He takes pride in the cleanliness and neatness of his space. When his room is centered, he feels centered as well. However, while Mejia’s room is clean, it’s not sterile by any means and authentically speaks to his character — and more specifically, to his refined taste for quality. He prefers items of the finer variety, whenever he can. Between jewelry, fragrances, clothing, cameras — the standards that he sets for his room are set for his life as well. 

Mejia is a very proud plant dad, but he explained that this hobby extends beyond his love for plants. He admits that he sometimes struggles to stay on top of his routine, especially as a busy senior, so the plants give him a nice physical structure to his routine. If he’s taking care of his plants and giving them water, he’s remembering to give himself water, take his medication, make breakfast and go to the gym — all parts of his personal routine. To Mejia, plant care is self-care. If his plants are being taken care of, it’s implied that he is taking care of himself. 

Mejia’s candles tend to bring him back to the comfort of home. Lighting a candle and sitting in front of the mirror whenever he’s anxious provides him with a ritualistic experience — the candles and this process remind him of his mom, as he reminisced about going shopping for candles with her whenever he’s home. He also showed us his floppy disks that were scattered around his room, which are old home videos of him as a child that have recently resurfaced within his familial archives. He told us about the overwhelming emotions that came with discovering memories of himself that he had never seen before. Many of these memories are from when he lived in Los Angeles, which was his first home before moving to Grand Rapids later on in childhood. 

Mejia spoke about his passion for home design, diving into his hobby of illustrating architectural drawings. He hopes to one day be able to design his own home from the inside out. He has been working on perspective drawings for the rooms that he imagines on his own and uses Adobe Illustrator to color the drawings and bring them to life. The more he plays around with future floor plans and room designs, the more he comes up with ideas to help complete his current space. Mejia claimed the process of designing his room is a cyclical, positive feedback loop. 

When looking for ideas for his space, Mejia tries to avoid scrolling through TikTok. “It’s nothing but short-lived microtrends on there,” he joked. He said that his friends help a lot — his old friends from home have exceptional taste in quality items, and they often discuss space curation to help elevate each other’s taste. Mejia looks forward to graduation and transitioning into a new stage in his life in which he can start investing and turning his space into what he really wants it to be like. What is currently in his room is only a sneak peek at his ambitious plans in regard to interior design. His current room is a playground for the ideas he has been floating around, but he’s excited to finally get the opportunity to realize his home design dreams when he graduates.

Katelyn Ma (they/them/any pronouns) – Sunnyvale, CA
Wi-fi Network name: yapnation

Walking into Katelyn Ma’s room feels like being transported to somewhere out of this world, as their room greets you with an ethereal explosion of blue, purple and pink tones. Ma loves the color pink which is evident from the color’s sizeable presence in their space, but this wasn’t always the truth for Ma. They describe their high school as very hierarchical, making it difficult for them to come of age in an environment where they were under constant pressure to conform to a very strange, whitewashed definition of femininity. This strict status quo in which it was “uncool” to perform hyper-femininity (commonly associated with the color pink) yet unacceptable to lean into masculinity, created a gray area that Ma felt trapped in. Part of experimenting with texture or different silhouettes and explosions of color has given them a way to explore the parts of them that they weren’t able to explore in high school. Pink specifically is a very comforting and sweet color to them, representing less of second-wave, whitewashed feminism and more of a sense of gentleness that they can allow themselves to give to both themself and the people around them.

In an effort to interrogate the ways in which they can exist outside of a commodified identity, Ma tries to collect as much trash as possible, which leads to much of their room consisting of junk and clutter. By doing so, they are able to subvert common conceptions of what can be considered appropriate to put up inside your room rather than adhering to any particular decor trends. Ma tries to be mindful of trend-chasing, noting that in the Global West, it fuels the commodification of self as well as overconsumption. 

“‘Trends are a way of creating culture because something is missing for [the people who chase them] — the only way they can find a sense of purpose is through the way they dress and the commodities they consume. There’s no cohesive element holding [their identities] together except for the desire to be normal or attractive, which is very empty,” Ma stated. Still, they concede with the concurrent truth that they also participate in keeping up with certain trends, just like everyone else. Although Ma loves their room, they emphasize that they don’t have a fixed desire to display any particular piece of decor. Their identity is not contingent on anything except their sense of self, which exists outside the physical realm. Ma seeks to decenter commodification by trying not to curate their room and instead letting their experiences cumulate into a space.

A lot of Ma’s decor is meant to be transitory, a constant cycle of removing and replacing. None of their decorations are anchored in place; the items are always changing to reflect their ever-changing identity and circumstances. They note that this is reflective of the queer Asian-American diasporic experience — the search for a home in the physical sense doesn’t hold as much priority as the home that they can find in community, which they find far more fulfilling. 

Ma has recently been contemplating the practice of radical rest, noting that activism spaces on the U-M campus bring forth a level of urgency that in turn upholds capitalism. As a result of being involved in these spaces, they’ve lacked the free time to relax and take care of themself. Ma wanted their involvement in this photo series to serve as a reason to slow down and take care of themself, plan for longevity, as to not burn out while fighting alongside the communities they care about. They have been reading about how a lot of the labor of marginalized groups is also about maintenance, rather than direct, outward progress forward — Ma notes the great value in that slow maintenance. While much of Ma’s room is defined by its impermanence and reflections of cyclical patterns of self-actualization, one constant that always remains is their “ratty ass blanket,” a long-term bedroom staple that was brought by their grandma from China. It’s their comfiest blanket, with part of this comfort stemming from their closeness to the grandparents who all but raised them. Ma laughs while reminiscing about how this blanket came along with them on their $20 Spirit flight to New York City last summer. 

Another item that serves as a reminder of home is a photo that they have of their childhood self. They often look at photos from their youth, which, they say, takes them back to a time when they were an unhappy little kid. Their grandparents, who were around as Ma was growing up, remind them of the idea of multiple contradicting truths. These memories speak to how complicated family can be, as one can love their family a lot despite the harm they may cause. Ma has been challenging themself to hold multiple heavy realities at once that contradict each other — their own identity and experiences in contrast to their family. And in this recognition is the reminder that navigating conflicting truths will always be a constant in their life.

James Scarborough (he/him) – Detroit, MI (by way of Lansing, MI)
Wi-fi Network name: Winternet is coming

From the “I love hot dads” poster on the ceiling to the “Fuck” rug on the floor, James Scarborough’s room is an ode to his love for media. His room is covered in pop culture references from his favorite movies, TV shows and songs. Scarborough’s room is not only a metaphorical reflection of his love of pop culture but a physical reflection as well. His room is filled with reflective surfaces, including a disco ball, mirrors and, most notably, a wall covered in CDs. 

Scarborough draws much of his decor ideas from Pinterest and being a frequent thrifter. He admits social media has influenced his interior design choices. A lot of what he has in his room comes from popular Pinterest bedroom trends such as tapestries and the classic artificial green vines. Much of his room is also color-coordinated. 

“Rainbow art is tacky to me, but I try to incorporate it tastefully,” he said. His magazine wall, wardrobe, and sneaker collection are all organized in rainbow order and he enjoys the kaleidoscopic glare of his CD wall. To Scarborough, the rainbows are a tie to his Queerness and serve as an underlying nod to this identity throughout his room. 

Much of his room is also filled with references to Black culture — vinyls from Ray Charles and Donna Summer can be spotted, referencing his childhood and the music taste of his parents. He also spoke to his dad’s obsession with hip-hop music, which is evident in his decor as he pointed to a collection of posters on his wall of popular comic book superheroes styled as old-school hip-hop icons like N.W.A and Nas. And of course, his poster wall is completed with Black icons like Jazmine Sullivan, Lauryn Hill & the Fugees, and Janet Jackson. 

Scarborough’s youthful inspirations permeate many aspects of his personal space, infusing it with a vibrant nostalgia. He was obsessed with Power Rangers as a kid, which explains the full-sized green Power Ranger helmet hanging on his wall. His magazine wall is full of different posters from TV shows and films such as “Charlie’s Angels” and “Kill Bill.” Scarborough is especially drawn to movies and TV shows that are reflective of himself and the things that he is into. In particular, Scarborough is a major fan of the 1998 TV supernatural show “Charmed,” evidenced by the poster of the main characters on his wall and his “Charmed” spell book gifted to him by his sister, which he proudly showed off to us. 

The classic ‘90s series has been a part of his life for as long as he can remember, especially because it held a special place in his grandmother’s heart. After experiencing a late-in-life brain injury, she began losing chunks of her short-term memory. As a result, she’d unconsciously watch the same episode of Charmed over and over and over again and the show became one of Scarborough’s only points of entry to connect with her. Through a fictional world, he found an avenue to create a very real connection with his grandmother.

“My whole family lives, loves, laughs ‘Charmed,’” Scarborough reflected while speaking to his family’s unparalleled significance in his life.

Dylan Chen (she/her) – Los Angeles, CA
Wi-fi Network name: The 406

Imagine that you’ve handpicked your favorite item from every lost and found bin you’ve ever come across. That’s exactly what it feels like to be inside Dylan Chen’s bedroom. Her space is, in great part, full of items that she picks up in the most random of places. 

“The stuff that finds you is way cooler than the stuff you find. It’s more poetic in that way and it means the item found you for a reason,” Chen reflected. She then proudly pulled out a jam-packed zipper wallet and opened it to reveal her collection of miscellaneous papers, tickets and receipts. She dove into her unique fascination with restaurant guest checks, remembering a story about how she bargained with a waitress from Fleetwood Diner to purchase a guest check booklet from them — and afterward began to use it as a sketchbook. Her specialty guest check illustrations can be seen scattered around her room. 

Chen’s room boasts her artistic and academic background. As a former student athlete and transfer student from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, much of Chen’s journey at the University of Michigan has been about patching things together on short notice. She described having used Amazon and Facebook Marketplace to source much of her room’s furniture. The effort of “patching things together”  is also true of her social life at the University of Michigan. A lot of her experience at the University has been building community through the people that she meets — everyone who has been a part of her journey at U-M has found their way into her room one way or another. This is physically embodied in the space from Chen’s bedroom door, which is covered by a collection of every single free thing that she’s ever acquired on campus. She laughed as she showed off the wall of miscellaneous items branded with the unmistakable U-M branding motifs that she has gotten through attending events for and with her friends. In just a short amount of time, Chen found community and pieced together an enjoyable experience for herself at U-M. “As my boyfriend likes to say, ‘We stick and move,’” Chen said.

With skateboards that Chen sources locally from Olympia Skate Shop in downtown Ann Arbor, she creates custom skate decks with trash found on the street. A lot of the work she does for galleries is critical of the elitism of galleries and exhibitions, as she challenges the idea that art is only of value when it’s in a gallery. When she’s on the street, she always looks for cool-looking receipts and scrap paper on the ground to incorporate into her gallery pieces to challenge the art world’s status quo.

While much of Chen’s art is from the streets or the thrifts, much of it is sourced from fellow artists that she has a relationship with. Whether it be interpersonal relationships like with her friends from home, fellow classmates or local artists, or parasocial relationships with her most influential artists like Kodone (who designed the woven blanket on her bed) and Terry Urban, Chen’s room boasts art made by both herself and the artists she holds close to her. 

When asked about what parts of her room make her feel at home, Chen’s face lit up at the opportunity to talk about her pink lava lamp from Target, which she considers to be one of her favorite items in her room. She bought it as a gift to herself for transferring to the University, and she loves it, as it has come a long way with her since leaving Massachusetts. Chen also mentioned her LED shark light that she bought from Pottery Barn with a $100 gift card from a relative. Chen was a surfer back in Los Angeles, and the blue shark on her wall keeps her tethered to this identity. “My mom thought I’d die without the ocean here in Michigan. But I’m still here,” she laughed.

Joseph Fisher (he/him) – East Cobb, GA
Wi-fi Network name: luther.1510wifi

As assumed by the flags, globes and history books scattered across his room, Joseph Fisher is an incredibly well-traveled history buff, always having his eyes on another destination in the future. Fisher’s room can be interpreted as a map within itself, with each acquired item marking a place he has traveled to in the past. “I think of my room as a culmination of who I am and where I’ve been,” he noted. 

Fisher desires for the things in his room to be meaningful, ensuring that every item that he picks up along his travels has a story behind it. He told us about a massive Argentinian photobook that he acquired while traveling through the country and how he smuggled it over three flights, tucked between his back and backpack because it wouldn’t fit in his luggage. There’s a rose that he was gifted by a friend in Beirut, who received it from a young Kurdish girl who ran up to her and spontaneously presented her with the flower. Fisher told us, “I don’t go around looking for stories, but y’know… Events happen and I keep the objects associated with them.”

Fisher’s politics are inferred just by looking around his room. He holds a passion for social justice, indicated in part by the pan-African Black liberation flags as well as the extensive book collection above his bed. Fisher believes that the relationship between his identity and political interactions is very personal, which he tries to reflect within his space. He grew up loving maps and geography, and his current space actualizes this childhood passion.

Akin to the shade of a worn page out of a history book, beige is Fisher’s favorite color and this is evident through the warm, Earth tones that flood his room. His IKEA rug, colored with beiges, browns and terracotta reds is the item he claimed brings the entire space together. Fisher takes his rug along with him to every space he’s lived in since purchasing it during a trip to Egypt. As the centerpiece of his space, he believes that it completes every space that he’s lived in since then. 

“Georgia is where I’m from but it will never truly feel like home to me,” Fisher said, while comparing his childhood home to his home in Ann Arbor. Fisher says the warmth is reminiscent of home, although he noted that his current room is a more developed and accurate version of what he was trying to achieve in his childhood bedroom as a kid. His bedroom in Ann Arbor brings him more comfort and is more reflective of his identity than his childhood bedroom ever was.