SNAP FINGERS AND WHISTLE
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.
Watch an interview HERE with Cristina talking about her project The Afronauts.
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CRISTINA DE MIDDEL (Spain, 1975) is a photographer based in London that has been working for different newspapers in Spain and with NGO´s such as Doctors Without Borders or the Spanish Red Cross for more than 8 years. Her practice has shifted from journalistic documentary assignments to more personal and conceptual projects – most notably her series The Afronauts – that have been awarded and exhibited all over the world (nominations include the PhotoFolio Arles 2012, the Deutsche Börse Award and the Infinity Award from the ICP in New York). This B-side of Cristina´s work deliberately asks the audience to question the language and veracity of photography as a document, and plays with reconstructions or archetypes that blur the border between reality and fiction.