Hamba

How do you mimic the grandiose open expanse of outer space here on earth? In 1964, the Zambian teacher Edward Makuka Nkoloso conceived the ambitious plan to launch a space flight programme aimed at putting the first African person on the moon. The lack of financial support meant that this plan never got off the ground. Fifty years later, photographer Cristina De Middel reconstructs the story using her own imagination, in the series The Afronauts. In this work, De Middel portrays an alternative reality, photographed in Alicante, Spain, according to which the mission to send a Zambian woman, a missionary and two cats to the moon was successful. In Hamba, De Middel has portrayed the space traveller from a low angle and from a distance. Dressed in a space suit, the figure is surrounded by air, as a subtle reference to the iconic image of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The combination with the harsh landscape of Alicante enhances the outer-world feeling that De Middel seeks to create.