Black Astronaut

Black Astronaut. The Stars Belong to the People
Believe in yourself, whatever the mission
Join award winning photographer Kamal X on his epic search for beauty through a divided America.
Black Astronaut is an extraordinary collection of powerful images that tell the stories of the everyday people behind the sensationalised headlines, a nuanced representation of the new Black America. Living, loving and fighting for a better world in difficult times.
Open your heart to this electrifying collection of images, as Kamal X uses his camera to explore America after George Floyd, Covid-19 and Trump by finding beauty, humanity and hope in the rage of a people under fire.
Black Astronaut serves as a raw opportunity to re-evaluate one's own intersection with the ongoing shifts in society that bring renewed threats to communities against a background framed by the unequal impact of economic volatility.
This book is about looking at the recent past to try to find a direction for the near future.
Kamal X emerged from the isolation of covid lockdown, seeking a new mission, wanting to document the rage and passion of people in the aftermath of the George Floyd murder. But he was afraid to go back out into the world in the middle of the worst pandemic in living memory, and so he took on the mantle of the Black Astronaut, a kind of mental totem to give himself the strength to continue on his impossible mission. Championing the importance of believing in oneself no matter how extraordinary the mission.
Features and contents:

A photographic essay in six parts. Images from an epic journey through 13 cities and 9 states over the period of 120 weeks:

 Introduction: Finding X

 Part 1: Mothership, Stay Home.

 Part 2: the Big Bang, Higher Power

 Part 3: Gravity, When We Close Our Eyes

 Part 4: Deep Space, The Great Beyond

 Part 5: Antimatter, Internet Explorer

 Part 6: Zenith, The Speed of Light