Cristina De Middel

"In 1911 the North Pole had already been discovered and these first valiant explorers had opened a way for secondary heroes that were willing to prove their courage and to bring back home some unforgettable and and unique memories. In that context a group of wealthy German and British supposed scientists decided to "re-discover" Jan Mayen, an island located between Greenland and Iceland that whalers had been using for years but that had not been studied scientifically. They sailed, they argued, they fought, they forgot their compass,they ran out of coal, they made it to the island, but the boat was too big and they could not land. End of the story. No medal to bring back home this time and no serious discovery in any of the fields of science that the crew was proudly representing. History is written by winners and the cinematographer in the crew was well aware of that. He convinced the loser group to stop on the way back in an Icelandic beach and to stage the landing with all the dramatising that such heroic jests entail. This is the true story of how History was staged." --… (mer)

This is a first edition of the seminal photobook by Cristina de Middel, telling the story of Zambia joining the space race between the USSR and the United States in the 1960s.

In 1964, a schoolteacher named Edward Makuka Knolls single-handedly initiated a space programme in Zambia, which aimed to put the first African on the moon. This came to an early end due to a lack of funding from either the Zambian Government or the United Nations.

In The Afronauts, Cristina de Middel retells this unlikely story, illustrating the narrative in her unique photographic style.In 1964 a Zambian science teacher named Edwuard Makuka decided to train the first African crew to travel to the moon. His plan was to use an alluminium rocket to put a woman, two cats and a missionary into Space. First the moon, then Mars, using a catapult system. He founded the Zambia National Academy of Science, Space Research and Astronomical Research to start training his Afronauts in his headquarters located only 20 miles from Lusaka.… (mer)

The third edition of the SPBH Book Club is by photographer Cristina De Middel. De Middel gained international acclaim with her her self published book 'The Afronauts' which, in just a few months froms its release, became widely praised and highly collectable. She was also nominated for the prestigious Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2013 and won the ICP Infinity Award.

This new project challenges the archetype of street photography and the language and veracity of the photograph as a document. De Middel takes us out onto the shimmering streets of New York City, and playfully works with visual tropes to illuminate the surreal quality of space within the city. Embodying the notion of the American Dream and the tingling sensation of collective fascination with such an iconic place, the book is something of an enigma and hints at a multilayered story – through signifiers and visual clues, the viewer is invited to piece together the sum of its parts, as in a game or a puzzle.… (mer)