synopsis
By Cristina de Middel : In 1964, still living the dream of their recently gained independence, Zambia started a space program that would put the first African on the moon, catching up the USA and the Soviet Union in the space race. Only a few optimists supported the project of Edward Makuka, the school teacher in charge of presenting the ambitious program and getting the necessary funding. But the financial aid never came, the United Nations withdrew their support, and one of the astronauts, a 16 year old girl, got pregnant and had to quit. That is how the heroic initiative turned into an exotic episode of African history, surrounded by wars, violence, droughts and hunger. As a photojournalist I have always been attracted by eccentric stories—avoiding the same old subjects told in the same old ways. Now, with my personal projects, I respect the basis of the truth but allow myself to break the rules of veracity, trying to push the audience into analysing the patterns of the stories we consume as real. The Afronauts is based on the documentation of an impossible dream that only lives in the pictures. I start from a real fact that took place 50 years ago and rebuild the documents, adapting them to my personal imagery.
technical information
Self published
2012
Format: 17.5 x 23 cm
38 pages
Edition of 1000 copies.
2012
Format: 17.5 x 23 cm
38 pages
Edition of 1000 copies.
about Cristina de Middel
Born 1975 in Alicante, Spain.
Lives and works in Brazil.
Lives and works in Brazil.
After ten years as a photojournalist, Cristina De Middel shifted her practice to a more conceptual approach in order to question the documentary value of photography. In 2012, she produced the acclaimed series The Afronauts, triggering a decade of work around the role of photography in creating stereotypes. Besides her prolific career as an author, and as an active member of the photography community, Cristina has been invited to curate festivals like Lagos Photo, PhotoEspaña, and San José Photo in Uruguay. She has published more than fourteen photobooks and her work is constantly on show in different institutions and venues. Cristina is on the board of Vist Projects, a platform to support Latin American visual story-telling, and she is a member of Magnum Photos agency and its president since 2022.
find / buy the book
more information
book in my collection
Publisher : This Book is true
2016 (2nd edition)
1500 copies unumbered.
Signed
2016 (2nd edition)
1500 copies unumbered.
Signed