AFRONAUTS of an impossible dream

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"We're going to Mars! With a spicegirl, two cats and a missionary".
We are in Zambia, newly independent in 1964.
Edward Makuka Nkoloso, a school teacher, unveils his most secret ambition through a newspaper's article: he wants to take Zambia to conquer the space at the same strength of US and Soviet Union.
Unfortunately Nkoloso' space program failed to receive financial aid and never "blasted-off"!!
50 years later, Spanish photographer Cristina De Middel, while searching for "impossible stories" on the net to find a good idea for a new project, came across this news.   
Afronauts, De Middel's amazing photo project and self published book, was born after this impossible dream.
 
I caught images of this project flipping the pages of RearViewMirror magazine. The project was pointed to me by an artist friend who saw it at Fotografia Europea.
Afronauts has been exhibited worldwide in New York, London, Lagos, Rome amongst other cities.
It was love at the first sight. I felt an immediate connection with the project and the artist.
The stars are shining brightly above dreams.
 
photos © Cristina De Middel 

CRISTINA DE MIDDEL biography
Cristina De Middel (Spain, 1975) is a photographer  based in London that has been working for different newspapers in Spain and with NGO's such as Doctors Without Borders or the Spanish Red Cross for more than 8 years.
She combines her strictly documentary assignments with more personal projects that have been awarded and exhibited in several occasions (incuding PhotoFolio Arles 2012, Deutsche Börse Prize and the Infinty Award from the ICP in New York).
This B-side of Cristina's work  deliberately  asks the audience to question the language and the veracity of photography  as a document, and plays with reconstructions  or archetypes that blur the border between reality and fiction.

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