G.F Smith and Tom Oldham announce a two-week exhibition of Tom’s Photographic work at the Show Space in London

Eldmóður – the fire within the Crossfit athletes of Iceland

Eldmóður is an old Icelandic word, which, while having no direct translation into modern day English, has been described as ‘passion’, ‘enthusiasm’ or ‘the fire within’. 300,000 athletes enter the annual World Crossfit Open Games to battle physical and mental exhaustion to become the one male, female and team champion. A huge anomaly in these numbers is the level of participants and eventual victors that herald from Iceland, which enjoys a population of a mere 320K but constantly takes high podium positions. The European Crossfit Team comprised of four athletes, three of which were Icelanders [Europe has a population of 743 million]. Why? Quite possibly, this is because of Eldmóður.

In an attempt to capture Eldmóður, photographer Tom Oldham travelled to Iceland to discover this phenomenon and investigate what causes the individual and incredible drive and enthusiasm. The project aims to investigate the correlation between the hard, brutal landscape, their 24 hours of light in summer but long, cold winters with 19 hours of darkness per day, and their intense ability to push themselves further than other Crossfit athletes were willing to explore in themselves.

When shooting, Tom was told that the ‘pain cave’ [a space all participants of this sport have to be willing to enter] was only 70% mental and that the body could take much more. This came from a female Crossfit athlete who was wearing a swimsuit and was about to swim in an icy pool. In November.

Tom believed her.

Exhibition Dates are 14-28 February
Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm
Show Space, 27-28 Eastcastle Street
London W1w 8DH
Tel 020 3205 0074