Artist Statement

¨before, the motorcycle was God, now God is God¨ - Preacher Mike Arnold

Bikeriders for Jesus is a documentary about a group of christian bikers and their leader Preacher Mike Arnold.

I met Precher Mike at the annual bikerrally in Sturgis, South Dakota, where I did an interview and shot a portrait of him sitting on his Harley Panhead. The story he told me at that time, of how and why he formed the group and the work they did within the outlaw bikerculture would not leave me. A couple of years later I travelled again to the U.S. to find him and ask if I could follow the group taking pictures of their life and work.

We met and he invited me, and over the next two years I would travel to the northwest to meet with him and the group, taking pictures and doing interviews.

At first the biker appearance attracted me as a photographer. The motorcycles, the clothes and the look of the bikers. But this was only a surface, behind this serious work was going on and this made the group more complex and interesting.

Precher Mike himself came from an abusive family, living a life with drugs, alchohol and agressive behavior, a life where there were no empathy for anybody. A religious experience brought a new path to his life, and after some years he saw there was a need for what he now stood for in the bikerculture. He started the Christian Crusaders Ministry, aimed at helping the outlaw bikerculture. Slowly the group expanded. Bikers met Mike who would talk about how it was possible to live with God, stay in the bikerculture and keep the motorcycle. He offered an alternative for many bikers lost as they were getting out of a destructive lifestyle in the bikerworld but found they were neither accepted of did fit in, in the ¨normal¨ world,

It is interesting how the group is formed to serve the outlawculture. The Crusaders work on building relations in the clubs, and as most of them comes from the clubworld, they get the trust and respect. The mission is to give back to the club world. Support families whose provider might be in prison, help people get of drugs etc. The crusaders also takes part in feedings for homeless and organises soup kitchens.

With my work Bikeriders for Jesus I want to show a different angle and perspective to bikers and bikerlife then the one often presented in media. Most of these people have families and kids, and try to make ends meet, but still gives. The Crusaders stands for an alternative lifestyle within the outlaw bikerculture. But since they have appearance we connect with outlawbikers, they are often judged and met as outlawbikers. The outside does not always show whats inside.

The Bikeriders for Jesus exhibiton strives at giving the audience a reflection and a perspective on how we judge people we might now very

little about, but think we know through our preconcived and prejudiced views.

Bikeriders for Jesus is also published as a book with the same name. There is an English version as well as a Swedish version.