2013 Infinity Award: Publication

In 1964, still living the dream of its recently gained independence, Zambia began a space program with the hope of sending the first African to the moon—catching up to the U.S. and Soviet Union in the space race. But the funding for the project was never raised, as the United Nations declined its support, and one of the astronauts, a 16-year-old girl, got pregnant and had to quit. The Afronauts (May 2012) is the visual depiction of how the heroic 1964 initiative to begin a space program in Zambia turned into an exotic episode of African history, surrounded by wars, violence, droughts, and hunger.

Cristina De Middel is a documentary photographer and artist now based in London. She has been working as a photojournalist for different newspapers in Spain (and with non-governmental organizations such as Doctors Without Borders and the Spanish Red Cross) for nearly 10 years. She combines documentary assignments with more personal projects. Her work deliberately asks the audience to question the language and the veracity of photography as a document, and plays with reconstructions or archetypes that blur the border between reality and fiction.