Sincerely hoping this art gives this vulnerable population a voice.
Living with your parents used to be something you did so you'd have someone to pay for your teenage boob job. Or, at the very least, your Hot Pocket addiction.
You'd put in your 18 years, thank them very much for a nice time, and be on your merry way to college or job-world.
Not so much nowadays. It's no secret that more and more of us are choosing to extend our stays in the perpetual Hotel California that is our parent's house, and many millennials are now living at home well into our 20s.
It makes sense. After all, tuition is insane, rent is insane, the job market is insane, and the sheer concept of homeownership is not only insane, but laughable. We mean, picture us signing a loan for a house. Ridiculous! That's like, Dave Chapelle circa 2005 funny.
Because of it all, we're just not saving, or even making money to save, so the prospect of sharing a space with the people who birthed us doesn't really seem all that bad. In fact, a recent Pew study found that more American millennials are living at home with their parents than with a spouse for the first time in 130 years.
But while the rent may be free, there is no freedom for millennials who live with Bob and Sandy.
Day in and day out, these people have to endure horrors like being asked to help unload the dishwasher, not having friends over on week nights, and having to rapidly turn down the volume on their phones while watching porn so Mom doesn't hear "aye aye aye aye my wang" from behind closed doors.
Thankfully, one photographer named Ebony-Renee Baker has documented their mournful struggle with a new photo series that explores the actual bedrooms in which these millennials live. But while these photos may be hard to stomach, they call attention to a cause; a cause that's had no voice other than "MOOOOOM WHERE DID YOU PUT MY BOXERS" … until now. And isn't that what art's meant to do?
Please enjoy responsibly:
… Just kidding, you guys.
Living with your parents has become normalized, and no one's really judging you if you do it.
See those smiling faces in those photos? These 20-somethings are happy to live with Mom and Dad, rent free. Yeah, they can't really have Game of Thrones-quality orgies or turn the basement into a weed grow like they could in their own places, but … that shit doesn't matter when a nice lady is making you pancakes in the morning while her husband and donor to half your DNA mows the lawn outside. Call us textbook millennials, but it sounds pretty idyllic, actually. And thanks to this photo set, we now know we're not the only ones who think it. Viva la childhood home!
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