The Afronauts
2016
$265.00
Second edition of The Afronauts by Cristina De Middel (2019)
Medium format paperback in fine condition
Signed by Cristina De Middel to inside of front cover
No markings
The history behind Afronauts
Zambia 1964, the rather eccentric school teacher Edward Makuka Nkoloso single-handedly started a space program. Its aim was to put the first African on the moon, thereby joining the space race between the Soviet Union and the United States. Due to a lack of funding, both by the Zambian Government and the United Nations, and because one of the astronauts, a teenage girl, became pregnant, the short-lived program came to an early end. It is a lesser-known part of the African history which unfortunately mostly has been dominated by wars, violence and hunger.
About the book
Half a century later, Spanish photojournalist, Cristina de Middel used this story as the basis for her book Afronauts. In it she rebuilds the story and adapts it to her personal imagery. De Middel shows us surreal pictures of a space program situated in Africa. It contains elephants, colorful spacesuits and beautiful hairdressers. The result of this fictional documentation is funny, striking and even thought-provoking. One might want to blame De Middel for mocking Nkoloso and ridiculing the idea of Africans on the moon. But according to De Middel: 'The images are beautiful and the story is pleasant at a first level, but it is built on the fact that nobody believes that Africa will ever reach the moon. It hides a very subtle critique to our position towards the whole continent and our prejudices.'
