Personal statement by photographer Cristina de MIDDEL.
"The story is amusing, but only at first glance, because it relies on the fact that no one believes that Africa will ever reach the moon." (© Cristina DE MIDDEL, in: The View)
Background information, content
1964. The space arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union was in full swing when Edward Makuka Nkoloso of Zambia decided to enter the race. The primary school teacher single-handedly launched a space program in 1964. Within a year, he wanted to send the first African to the moon. Only a few optimists supported the ambitious project. To prepare for the flight into space, Nkoloso put his astronauts in oil drums and let them roll down the slope. A swing - cut off at the peak of the swing - simulated weightlessness.But: the Zambian government never seriously concerned itself with Nkoloso's activities. And even the UN did not want to pay the 7 million dollars demanded by Nkoloso. Moreover, one of the prospective astronauts had become pregnant. So the space project died a quiet death.
Some fifty years later, Spanish photographer Cristina de MIDDEL brings Nkoloso's story back to light, producing a fictional documentary about his real-life efforts.
Additional information
The photo volume 'Afronauts' by Cristina de MIDDEL has been published in three editions so far, but all of them are out of print.
About Spanish Magnum photographer Cristina de MIDDEL (b. 1975)
Photo books by Cristina de MIDDEL
- Book design
- Cristina DE MIDDEL
- Format
- Pb. (no dust jacket, as issued), 17,5 x 23,5 x 1 cm., 88 pp., color ills., text ?
- Year of Release
- 2012
- Publisher
- Self published
- Print run details
- 1st print run
- Video
- Video: http://vimeo.com/43859875 (by DEVELOP Tube); review: http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/2012/07/review_the_afronauts_by_cristina_de_middel/ (Colberg); interview: http://haveanicebook.com/2012/11/27/interview-to-cristina-de-middel-entrevista-a-cristina-de-