Cristina de Middel and her Afronauts

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Cristina de Middel is an half-Spanish, half-Belgian photographer based in London that uses her work to create visual documentaries. One of her biggest projects is called 'The Afronauts' and is a re-interpretation of an event that actually happened:

In 1964, a science teacher from Zambia called Edward Makuka Nkoloso started a space program that would have brought the first Africans to the moon, beating the United States and Soviet Union in the race to space. His plan was to utilize an aluminium and copper rocket to send a woman, two cats and a missionary to space. Few optimists followed his project and the financial help never came, since the United Nations refused to support it and the woman got pregnant and had to abandon the plan.

All of this happened while wars, violence, drought and hunger surrounded the area.
Cristina de Middel tells this story with sweetness and a touch of irony, letting the proud folly of that idea shine through. She mixes reality with fiction, making the documentary side of the project blend with fantasy, while passing from astronauts in training to African locations.

Her work expresses itself with modern framing, showing a message while keeping the aesthetic simple but effective, and "The Afronauts" perfectly celebrates the audacity of dreaming something and the characteristic of dreams to escape in consequence to the limitations of the circumstances.
Cristina de Middel is a photo-reporter that supports a production of work that aims to start discussions about the language and truth of photography as document.

As she claims: "I think we need to start understanding photography again, and not just like stating "This is true", "This is not true photography": I think we need to race a debate on the document, on the documentary value of photography"
A book has been created for this project and is also available for iPad and iPhone.