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Tracey Emin’s My Bed, first exhibited in 1999, can be said, will resonate now more than ever with Gen Z as we grapple with emotional burnout. Emin’s installation - created after she found herself bedridden in a depressive episode, portrays a universal experience of emotional exhaustion. Today, the work finds new relevance in a phenomenon popularised by Gen Z aptly named ‘bed rotting.’
‘Bed rotting,’ a term coined by Gen Z on platforms like TikTok, refers to the act of staying in bed all day, not necessarily out of physical illness, but as a form of retreat or escapism. It’s a break from the grind of modern life. Just as Emin’s bedridden state became a symbol of preservation after a personal breakdown, ‘bed rotting’ has become a coping mechanism for young people, offering an excuse to disengage from productivity without guilt.
The experience of staying in bed as both a physical and emotional sanctuary connects deeply to Emin’s portrayal of her bed as a space that “saved” her during a time of immense despair. For Emin, her bed was not just a resting place but a site of raw vulnerability, littered with evidence of her struggle.
Emin’s work feels especially relevant today, where many young people are experiencing heightened levels of burnout, anxiety, and depression. The pressures of late-stage capitalism have exacerbated these struggles. We, as Gen Z, face unprecedented economic precarity, with rising living costs, student debt, and a hypercompetitive graduate job market. As the digital economy demands constant connectivity, with endless ‘doomscrolling’ becoming a numbing form of distraction from these stresses.
The parallels between Emin’s experience and the concept of ‘bed rotting’ can be viewed as a critique of the culture of overwork and productivity that capitalism enforces. It is defined by Charlie Health as: ‘staying in bed alone doing things that require little to no effort for long periods of time.’
Is staying in bed really an act of defiance or a reclamation of time and space for oneself?
While ‘bed rotting’ is often framed as self-care or does it veer into self-sabotage. Just as Emin’s installation sparked debates about whether her bedridden state was an act of empowerment or a symbol of helplessness, ‘bed-rotting’ can be seen in two ways. On one hand, it is a retreat, a necessary pause to recover. On the other hand, it risks becoming a coping mechanism that avoids deeper emotional work, exacerbating feelings of isolation, helplessness and stagnation.
In reflecting on Tracey Emin’s My Bed and ‘bed rotting,’ we see how both speak to a universal need for solitude in the face of overwhelming emotional and societal pressures. While Emin’s work exposes the private dimensions of depression, loneliness, and shame, ‘bed rotting’ still serves as a modern response to the stressors of life over 25 years on. The bed will always remain a powerful symbol of vulnerability.
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