Clic Gallery is proud to present the world debut of photoseries The Boombox by Lyle Owerko.

While in Tokyo in 2001, photographer Lyle Owerko found a mint late-seventies Victor JVC at an outdoor market. Having already been a collector, his hunt began for more rare and obscure models. Beloved by rappers, b-boys, dancers, political protestors, and punks, a siren call to gather and dance, the boombox reminds us of when music was a collective experience and the street was a club. Owerko spent years collecting and photographing a remarkable set of vintage boomboxes, resulting in an arresting, unexpected photoseries of these cult objects.

In conjuction with the exhibit, Abrams Books is publishing The Boombox Project: The Machines, the Music and the Urban Underground. Featuring an introduction by Spike Lee, this collection of archival photographs, Owerko’s own images, and commentary on boombox culture by Fab 5 Freddy, Spike Lee, Kool Moe Dee, LL Cool J, Rosie Perez, DJ Spooky, Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys and Pras of the Fugees, the book, like the photographs, is an extraordinary historical document.

Lyle Owerko’s photographs of the September 11 attack for TIME Magazine, including the cover shot of the burning towers, are some of the most widely known images of the decade and were published as And No Birds Sang (Wonderlust Publishing, 2002). Owerko is the winner of the 2009 Hasselblad Masters Award as well as awards from the AIGA, The National Press Photographers Association, National Geographic and Communication Arts amongst many other distinctions. He has directed music videos for artists including Rufus Wainwright and American Hi-Fi. Owerko’s photojournalism in Africa was the subject of a previous exhibit at Clic Gallery entitled The Samburu.