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A riveting photo journal documenting the pandemic by notable and noteworthy actor Richard Edson. It's the stuff of science fiction and dystopian nightmares. But the writers and doomsayers were right. And here we are. Each of us who have lived through Year Zero having our own stories to tell. This is my story, in photographs, and texts.
“Richard Edson's Year Zero Lockdown Journal is a dramaticeyewitness account of 2020-21 in Los Angeles, his observations matched by acavalcade of images, turns moody, haunted, ominous, meditative, andreassuringly banal--then the police riots following the murder of George Floydturn the mode to combat photography. This book is terrific, the pictures anddesign are perfect."- Lucy Sante (Writer, Critic, and frequent contributor tothe New York Review of Books)
“Richard Edson's Year Zero Lockdown Journal marks a uniqueand riveting addition to the genre of Covid Lit. With a voice all his own andphotographs that capture the dark heart of plague-time Los Angeles, Edson'svision is evocative of work as diverse as Bill Owens, WB Sebald, or Bukowski ifhe owned a camera. Edson's text and photos make this the perfect tome to curlup with and ride out the next pandemic.- Jerry Stahl (Novelist & Screenwriter ofPermanent Midnight)
“Richard Edson has always expressed a contemplative naturelaced with humor, mostly at the absurdity so rife in the human condition. It'swhat you see in his photography, glean from his words, and hear in his music.You certainly see it in his evocative and beautiful visage. The pandemic yearseems like a bad dream we've all woken from and do not want to hear aboutagain. But, in Richard's photo-journal, initially recounting a frightenedand confused state – as so many of us were in – leading into conflictedfeelings of self-regard through forced isolation, and then to the groupactivism spurred by the police killing of George Floyd, the power of resistancerefuting the discombobulation of community, Richard encounters his essence–that of positive vibrations, the manifest of his drums, his trumpet, his poetryand prose, alive in conversation, in exchange, sharing, caring, daring, andstaying aware – come hell or high water. This is a magnificent read."- Thurston Moore (Guitarist and Founding member of SonicYouth)
“During the pandemic, Richard Edson chose to venture outdaily, with bicycle and camera, to discover once-familiar, even mundane detailsnow transformed by a new, unpredicted perspective. Finding a quiet beauty in aworld suddenly stopped, and later a turbulent energy heightened by socialdisturbances and the powerful BLM movement, what accumulates is a very movingpersonal document but one resonating with planetary implications." – Jim Jarmusch (Film Director, Screenwriter and Producer ofStranger Than Paradise, Down by Law, Ghost Dog, and Only Lovers Left Alive)
Richard Edson has been acting in films for over 30 years. His acting career began in 1985 when he starred in Jim Jarmusch's, STRANGER THAN PARADISE, Oliver Stone's, PLATOON, Spike Lee's, DO THE RIGHT THING, FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF, GOOD MORNING VIETNAM, John Sayles', SUNSHINE STATE, STARSKY & HUTCH, the Polish Brother's, THE ASTRONAUT FARMER, Wim Wender's, THE LAND OF PLENTY, COLUMBUS DAY and Rob Zombie's 3 FROM HELL.
As a musician he was the founding member and drummer for the seminal art rock band, SONIC YOUTH, and drummer/trumpet player for the legendary New York Afro-dance band, KONK. As a photographer he has exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions. He has been featured in art periodicals and magazines; JUXTAPOSE, PUTA, and THE PROPAGANDIST. He has shot magazines spreads and assignments for WAX POETICS and the clothing company AMERICAN APPAREL, and many others. He has also been a featured columnist in the downtown Los Angeles arts magazine, CITIZEN LA.