Thursday, September 27, 2012

The Afronauts by Cristina de Middel

The best photobook I've seen this year. In this beautiful self-published (and unfortunately already out of print) book Cristina de Middel brings together the visual flair of Viviane Sassen and the conceptual power of Joan Fontcuberta in order to recreate the optimistic 1960's vision of a small African nation sending its citizens into space.

This video uses de Middel's photos to describe the historical events.

 
The Afronauts by Cristina De Middel from DEVELOP Tube on Vimeo.


The book itself has a less romanticized feel than you get from looking at the selected images used in the video above. As shown in the video below, the book intersperses de Middel's images with a variety of documentary materials that, in a manner reminiscent of Fontcuberta's Fauna, provide additional conceptual heft to the experience.

 
the afronauts by Cristina de middel from Bottling Fruit on Vimeo.

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