Rehearsals for Adulthood (The Dreamer, after Man Ray)

Rehearsals for Adulthood is a photographic essay that touches on the theme of a young man's transition to adulthood, confronting himself, his feelings for his girlfriend, and various real-life situations, sometimes painful, sometimes funny. Created between 1997 and 2001, the series consists of single or paired photographs, accompanied by a handwritten text, a record of an event, a mood or a personal note - placed side by side, they tell a story. Despite the impression of being invited into the intimate world of the series' protagonist, Jari Silomäki (1975- ) seamlessly blurs the line between truth and fantasy. The script for the story was carefully prepared and acted out, while the character we see in the photographs is not the author, but an actor - like all the others in the Finnish artist's work. Silomäki works primarily with narrative documentary photography, or rather seeks new forms of it. The main themes of his photographic and film productions focus on intimate human relationships, as well as those between individuals and major historical events. Silomäki is one of the representatives of the renowned Helsinki School - which comprises the most talented graduates and students from the Aalto University - School of Art, Design and Architecture. These artists are distinguished by their individualistic, conceptual understanding of photography and their expert precision. The Helsinki School of Photography stands for a distinctive approach to nature, imagining and representing the passage of time. It also stands for abstraction as a form of visual expression and the use of photographic processes as a means of conceptually gathering, processing and interpreting information about the world around us. Marlena Chybowska-Butler