Rehearsals for Adulthood (If she seats here...)

Jari Silomäki (1975- ) 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. He is regarded as one of the representatives of the renowned Helsinki School - which comprises the most talented artists from the Aalto University - School of Art, Design and Architecture. They 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. Silomäki's work consists of creating a series of photographic objects, often many at the same time. His photographs are usually combined with a text, a handwritten excerpt from a diary. They are either personal reflections or more universal insights, a record of world-historical events. One of his first series, Rehersals for Adulthood - an intimate record of a young man's painful, sometimes hilarious process of entering adulthood - was made between 1997 and 2001. As he was finishing it, he began another project, The Weather Diary, which continues to this day. Every day, without exception, he takes a photograph for this project. His aim is to explore the boundary between the subjective and the objective at the level of both individual and collective memory. By combining the local landscape with current global news, Silomäki makes us think about what it really means for the whole world to be accessible to everyone at any time through modern technology. Does it really bring us closer? Or does it make us less receptive to what is happening in our immediate environment? Marlena Chybowska-Butler