Denise Byroads
Denise Byroads (sometimes credited as Denis or Denyse Byroads) is an American former "wannabe photographer" who, along with Graeme Whifler, was one of only two people to photograph The Residents during their early career.[1]
Apparently a former girlfriend of one of the group's members,[1] Byroads is said to have volunteered to be the photographer of The Residents' first "official" photo session in 1972, which resulted in the series of images often referred to as the "Dog Show" photos.[2]
A series of images dating from the same time period, and supposedly depicting The Residents and friends in costume as characters from Not Available were first seen by the public in the gatefold of the album's 2005 vinyl reissue, where they are erroneously credited to Graeme Whifler, the group's other regular photographer during this period.[3][4] In these pictures, Byroads depicts the opera's central character Edweena.[1]
One of these images - a "curious photo" which ostensibly depicts "the Porcupine", and which had previously featured as the front cover graphic for an issue of Ralph Records' Buy Or Die! newsletter - has since been dated to a 1972 Byroads photo session,[5] and the full set of Not Available photos was credited to Byroads in the acknowledgments of the 2022 book A Sight For Sore Eyes, Vol. 1.[6]
Much of Byroads' work with The Residents remained unseen by the public for decades, and it is believed she did not pursue a photography career beyond her early experiments with The Residents.[1] Byroads was named in Hardy Fox's Hacienda Bridge newsletter on February 14th 2017 as having assisted The Residents during their career.[7] Between March 2019[8] and December 2021,[9] five of her photos were shared with accreditation on The Residents' official Instagram page.[10][11][12]
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External links and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Denise Byroads is a former girlfriend of one of The Residents. She was a wannabe photographer way back in the 70s but to my knowledge, never followed up beyond the one session with The Residents. Denise and Graeme were the only two people who photographed the group back in those days, so any pictures not taken by Graeme were shot by Denise. The young woman portraying Edweena in the center of the [Not Available reissue gatefold] is Denise." Homer Flynn in an email to a fan, posted in The Residents unofficial Facebook group, August 15th 2018
- ↑ "Portfolio Info Continued", Evidence of Residents Volume 1, 2004
- ↑ Not Available liner notes, 2004, 2005 and 2011 reissues
- ↑ "Not my work." Graeme Whifler, comment in The Residents unofficial Facebook group, November 15th 2020
- ↑ Post to The Residents' official Instagram page, March 12th 2020
- ↑ Aaron Tanner, A Sight For Sore Eyes, Vol. 1, Melodic Virtue, 2022
- ↑ Hardy Fox, "Other people with vaginas who have also helped", Hacienda Bridge no. 10, February 14th 2017
- ↑ Instagram post by The Residents, March 9th 2019
- ↑ Instagram post by The Residents, December 22nd 2021
- ↑ Instagram post by The Residents, November 27th 2019
- ↑ Instagram post by The Residents, March 12th 2020
- ↑ Instagram post by The Residents, January 21st 2021