Untitled from the series Afronauts, by Cristina De Middel
Contender Cristina De Middel's series, Afronauts—comprising retro, sci-fi portraits and muted-color landscapes—recalls a different era, when space travel was new and every country wanted in on the action.
In 1964, Zambia had just gained independence from the United Kingdom. What better way to celebrate than to start a space program itself? (True story.) The (unofficial) Director-General of the Zambia National Academy of Space Research guaranteed the country could put the first Africans on the moon, and on a rapid timeline, to boot. Unfortunately, a financial aid request (to the tune of $700 million from the United Nations) er, fell short, and one of the astronauts, a 17-year-old girl, became pregnant and had to return to her village. The Zambian government distanced itself from the project, as his request and methods weren't taken seriously. In Afronauts, De Middel revisits this un-photographed course of events as she imagines it to have looked.
Untitled from the series Afronauts, by Cristina De Middel
"As a photojournalist I have always been attracted by the eccentric lines of storytelling, avoiding the same old subjects told in the same old ways," says Spanish-born De Middel, who is now a freelance photographer based in London. "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."
Untitled from the series Afronauts, by Cristina De Middel
De Middel's personal and professional work for newspapers and NGOs has been recognized by the National Photojournalism Prize Juan Cancelo (2009), Fnac Photographic Talent (2009) and the Humble Arts Women in Photography Project Grant (2011). She has an MA in fine arts from University of Valencia, Spain (2001), an MA in photography from University of Oklahoma (2000) and a postgraduate degree in photojournalism from Universitat Politécnica de Barcelona, Spain (2002).