Simon Norfolk
The districts of Wazir Akbar Khan and Sherpur, home to all the NGOs and contractors, occupy the site of the former British fortress from the Second Anglo-Afghan War, ‘the Cantonment’. Glitzy, kitschy ‘poppy-palaces’, flung up in a hectic property boom after the land was illegally re-possessed from squatters, can command rents of $20,000 per week when leased out to Internationals.

The districts of Wazir Akbar Khan and Sherpur, home to all the NGOs and contractors, occupy the site of the former British fortress from the Second Anglo-Afghan War, ‘the Cantonment’. Glitzy, kitschy ‘poppy-palaces’, flung up in a hectic property boom after the land was illegally re-possessed from squatters, can command rents of $20,000 per week when leased out to Internationals.

© Simon Norfolk / Gallery Luisotti

The districts of Wazir Akbar Khan and Sherpur, home to all the NGOs and contractors, occupy the site of the former British fortress from the Second Anglo-Afghan War, ‘the Cantonment’. Glitzy, kitschy ‘poppy-palaces’, flung up in a hectic property boom after the land was illegally re-possessed from squatters, can command rents of $20,000 per week when leased out to Internationals.
The districts of Wazir Akbar Khan and Sherpur, home to all the NGOs and contractors, occupy the site of the former British fortress from the Second Anglo-Afghan War, ‘the Cantonment’. Glitzy, kitschy ‘poppy-palaces’, flung up in a hectic property boom after the land was illegally re-possessed from squatters, can command rents of $20,000 per week when leased out to Internationals.
ArtistBritish, born Nigeria, 1963
CultureBritish
Titles
  • The districts of Wazir Akbar Khan and Sherpur, home to all the NGOs and contractors, occupy the site of the former British fortress from the Second Anglo-Afghan War, ‘the Cantonment’. Glitzy, kitschy ‘poppy-palaces’, flung up in a hectic property boom after the land was illegally re-possessed from squatters, can command rents of $20,000 per week when leased out to Internationals.
  • from the portfolio Burke + Norfolk: Photographs from the War in Afghanistan
Date2010–2011, printed September 2011
Place depictedKabul, Afghanistan
MediumChromogenic print
DimensionsImage: 14 1/2 × 19 1/4 in. (36.8 × 48.9 cm)
Sheet: 15 × 20 in. (38.1 × 50.8 cm)
Credit LineGift of Morris Weiner
Object number2016.224.22
Non exposé

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
ProvenanceThe artist; [Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, California]; purchased by Morris Weiner, Houston, 2012; given to MFAH, 2016.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Stamped in black ink, verso, lower right: Burke + Norfolk // Photographs from the war in Afghanistan // by John Burke and Simon Norfolk // Printed by Simon Norfolk, September 2011 // An archival, digital, chromogenic print on Fujicolor Crystal Archive // Photograph by Simon Norfolk [signed in pencil over a stamped underline] // One of 104 prints in a Burke + Norfolk portfolio special edition // Edition number 1 of eight [1 is handwritten in pencil over a stamped underline]
Signed and numbered on verso lower right, within artist's stamp

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Durbar in Sherpur Cantonments.
John Burke
1878–1879, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.91
The entrance to a small, western-backed NGO.
Simon Norfolk
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.41
Waiting for a helicopter, Camp Bastion, Helmand.
Simon Norfolk
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.102
Some of the palletized, instant-build accommodation blocks at Camp Leatherneck, Helmand.
Simon Norfolk
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.100
The ‘Residency’. From outside of Bala Hissar.
John Burke
1878–1880, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.101
Ali Musjid and Camp from Sultan Tarra.
John Burke
1878, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.98
A shelter against rocket and mortar attack, Camp Leatherneck, Helmand.
Simon Norfolk
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.104
Bala Hissar Palace. Cabul.
John Burke
1878–1880, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.94