This interesting photo book about anti-nuclear activist Ed Grothus deserves your support — and a space on your bookshelf.
Heads up, photo book collectors and military history fans! We’ve spotted an interesting project you might want to check out and support on Kickstarter. There was once a unique military surplus store at the heart of Los Alamos in Northern New Mexico filled with all kinds of technologies, relics, and objects from the Los Alamos National Laboratory. A photo book titled Atomic Ed holds some stories about the intriguing shop as revealed by the work of anti-nuclear activist Ed Grothus, the man who put it all together.
The photo book was born out the initiative of UK-based documentary photographer and multimedia artist Janire Najera. In late 2012, she set to work photographing the remaining artifacts in The Black Hole, a former grocery store where Grothus sold obsolete equipment, hardware, tools, furnishings, and Cold War relics from the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The “Mecca of technological obsolescence,” as Janire described it turned out to house 50 years’ worth of correspondence, documents, objects, and photographs: a treasure trove of material for a photo book.
The photo book borrows its title from the name that Grothus later came to be known as for his stint at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he worked as a machinist in 1949. Feeling that the Vietnam War was unjust, Atomic Ed opted out of the lab’s operations developing nuclear weapons, and became one of the most outspoken anti-nuclear protesters of the 20th century.
The Black Hole closed in late 2012, three years after Grothus passed away in 2009. But Janire has made sure we’ll all get to learn about his legacy and the story behind the historic and iconic unique store.
According to Janire, Atomic Ed has already been designed and is now ready to make its way to the press. The hardcover book will have 196 pages and will feature 83 photographs and 47 original letters. The project is already close to being funded but with only four days to go. So if it’s something you’d like to see on print, head to the Atomic Ed Kickstarter campaign to show your support.
All images by Janire Najera via the Atomic Ed Kickstarter campaign
