Reykjavík Museum of Photography

The objective of the portraits is to make a record of the unique culture of the biking world, and provide insight into it. The project may thus be seen as an “ethnological” study  of this “tribe,” with the aim of gaining an enhanced understanding of the origins of biker culture.  Spessi travelled  partly by motorbike himself, and also by truck. In addition to Kansas - where he lived for a year – he kept mainly to Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana – the poorest states in the Union. 


“The show is, in a sense, a journal of my travels in their company, about the friends I made, and everything they‘ve shown me and taught me, by allowing me the opportunity to peek into that separate, and sometimes closed, world.”    

The origins of biker culture as such can be traced back to an event on Independence Day, 4 July 1947, when a huge number of bikers gathered together in the small town of Hollister, California. Many were veterans of World War II who had fallen through the cracks in society. Terrified Hollister locals called in the police, and back-up was requested from other police forces. That was the first occasion on which this new social group – bikers – hit the headlines. The Marlon Brando film The Wild One (1953) was inspired by the events at Hollister.
 
While the media spotlight tends to fall on organised groups, they are just one part of a much larger culture of ordinary  working-class Americans – often outsiders – who  see their dreams of independence and freedom embodied in the motorbike. A Horse with No Name portrays those people, their environment, their life and their community. 


Spessi comments: “The show is, in a sense, a journal of my travels in their company, about the friends I made, and everything they‘ve shown me and taught me, by allowing me the opportunity to peek into that separate, and sometimes closed, world.”    

Spessi is now working on a documentary film of the same name about biker culture, along with film maker Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson, which will show us behind the scenes and give us an impression of the atmosphere of the photography sessions.


Spessi is one of Iceland’s best-known photographers. What sets him apart is his fresh and original approach to his subjects, which range from advertising photography to portraits and art photography. His work has, for instance, been published to illustrate editorials in such major newspapers as the New York Times and Politiken. His photographic exhibitions have generally attracted great attention, as have his books of photographs. 
Spessi has also been a diligent educator in photography, for instance as a lecturer at the Iceland Academy of Arts, and  as a visiting tutor at the School of Photography.

Spessi studied photography at AKI – Academie voor Beeldende Kunst in the Netherlands, and he has held exhibitions both in Iceland and abroad since 1996.

The exhibition is on the programme of the Reykjavík Arts Festival 2013.


SPESSI │Horse with no Name

The exhibition "A Horse with No Name" comprises portraits of bikers taken by photographer Spessi on a tour of the USA in 2011–2012.