REDUX Exhibition by Julian Yewdall, London W1
REDUX an exhibition of b/w photographs featuring Joe Strummer with The 101?ers/
The
Clash/ & Latino Rockabilly War + The Slits.
Photographer: Julian Yewdall.

EXPOSURE GALLERY, 22-23 Little Portland St. London W1. 1st - 30th June 2005

Julian Yewdall?s REDUX exhibition at the Exposure Gallery, 22-23 Little Portland
Street,
London W1W 8BU, will feature over 60 unique black-and-white photographs of Joe
Strummer and previously unseen pictures of the seminal all girl punk band The
Slits. The
exhibition will run from 1st of June to 30th June 2005.

Yewdall first met Strummer in the summer of 1974 when the then John 'Woody'
Mellor
moved into the squat at 101 Walterton Road in London?s Maida Hill. Yewdall sang
and
played harmonica in an early line-up in The 101?ers, then briefly managed the
band
before abandoning the musical for the visual by picking up a camera.

As a housemate of Strummer, he had unparalleled access to the formative days of
a
performer who is now ranked with Bob Marley, John Lennon and Bob Dylan as one of
the
great poets of contempory music, and the results of his unique position are
presented in
this REDUX exhibition.

The title of the show is taken from the Latin reducere, meaning brought back or
restored:
many of the photographs were discovered only in the last year when Yewdall
trawled
through a personal archive that had lain dormant for almost thirty years. Most
of the
images of Strummer date back to his earliest days when he was a singer with The
101?ers, the quintessential squat-rock group in which he learned his musical and
political ?chops?. In Yewdall?s live pictures of the hirsute guitar-player you
can see the
frenetic movement and stage presence that he took and honed to perfection as
frontman
with The Clash, today considered one of the greatest groups of all time. Also
included are
photographs of Joe with his group of the late 1980?s, The Latino Rockabilly War,
which
toured internationally as the late singer?s first solo project.

As a close friend,Yewdall had unique access to Joe Strummer: the pictures in
REDUX
include posed portraits as well as informal reportage and intimate moments,
taken when
stardom was only a glimmer in the eye of this inimitable artist. They also
document that
exceptional period in English social history when access to abandoned properties
provided
creative opportunities for artists to develop their craft without constraints of
financial
imperatives.

This was also the history of The Slits, who supported The Clash on their first
full-scale
tour of Britain. Fronted by Ari Up, The Slits set the template for British girl
groups; riveting
live performers, uncompromising and fearless, The Slits reached their recording
zenith in
1979 with the release of the Dennis Bovell-produced album, 'Cut'.