“Lost Ceremony” is part of Adam Marelli’s multi year study on the uncertain future of ancient traditions. In his exploration of Japanese craftsmanship, Marelli sought to combine his experience as a contractor with his artistic training to reveal the shy personalities that normally remain inside of their workshops. The images hint at the delicate balance needed for these studios to survive as they contend with an ever expanding global market obsessed with novelty.
“Lost Ceremony†is part of Adam Marelli’s multi year study on the uncertain future of ancient traditions. In his exploration of Japanese craftsmanship, Marelli sought to combine his experience as a contractor with his artistic training to reveal the shy personalities that normally remain inside of their workshops. The images hint at the delicate balance needed for these studios to survive as they contend with an ever expanding global market obsessed with novelty.
The body of work is informed by his apprenticeships in construction and Zen Buddhism. In each case, he was exposed to the three concepts that sit at the forefront of the work.
First, the observation skills required of an apprentice and that of a photographer are nearly identical. In apprenticeship, asking questions is discouraged or even forbidden and as a non japanese speaker, my language was rather limited. Â So resting on my experience with other apprenticeships, like construction or Zen (where talking is prohibited) it became a concentrated visual exercise, rather than learning through words. Â Second, the objects in and around the workshops are handed from generation to generation without instruction manuals. In order to understand an objects meaning and capacity, there is an oral tradition that links hundreds of years to the present. Third, daily work is a challenge that reflects the Zen paradox of existing in the present moment. Always fleeting, this moment is constant buffer between the past and future. It becomes very difficult to visually divide the past, present and future from one another.