On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Bambuit, from the series The Afronauts
Cristina de Middel Spanish
Not on view
This photograph of a brightly attired astronaut in a helmet fashioned from a streetlight cover belongs to De Middel’s series The Afronauts, which reimagines the activities of Zambia’s short-lived space program. When Zambia achieved independence in 1964, science teacher and political revolutionary Edward Mukuka Nkoloso appointed himself director of a new National Academy of Science, Space Research, and Philosophy. With the aim of claiming the moon and Mars for Africans, he and his teenaged recruits conducted ad hoc training exercises to prepare for space travel. The sincerity of Nkoloso’s project is unclear; some have interpreted it as a satire of imperialism or a fanciful dream for his country’s future.
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