Simon Norfolk
Some of the nonsensical property development taking place in Kabul. This district of the city, Karte Char Chateh, is remembered by Kabulis as that part of the bazaar which was burned by the British in 1842 as collective punishment for the killing of the British Envoy. The fires still burned when the British retreated two days later.

Some of the nonsensical property development taking place in Kabul. This district of the city, Karte Char Chateh, is remembered by Kabulis as that part of the bazaar which was burned by the British in 1842 as collective punishment for the killing of the British Envoy. The fires still burned when the British retreated two days later.

© Simon Norfolk / Gallery Luisotti

Some of the nonsensical property development taking place in Kabul. This district of the city, Karte Char Chateh, is remembered by Kabulis as that part of the bazaar which was burned by the British in 1842 as collective punishment for the killing of the British Envoy. The fires still burned when the British retreated two days later.
Some of the nonsensical property development taking place in Kabul. This district of the city, Karte Char Chateh, is remembered by Kabulis as that part of the bazaar which was burned by the British in 1842 as collective punishment for the killing of the British Envoy. The fires still burned when the British retreated two days later.
ArtistBritish, born Nigeria, 1963
CultureBritish
Titles
  • Some of the nonsensical property development taking place in Kabul. This district of the city, Karte Char Chateh, is remembered by Kabulis as that part of the bazaar which was burned by the British in 1842 as collective punishment for the killing of the British Envoy. The fires still burned when the British retreated two days later.
  • 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 number2016.224.7
Not on view

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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.

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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
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.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.22
Unfinished, speculative property development near Kabul Airport.
Simon Norfolk
Unfinished, speculative property development near Kabul Airport.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.30
A watchtower guarding a street of foreign embassies in central Kabul. For the British army these improvised fortifications are called ‘sangars’, although the term is Dari for ‘barricade’ and is one of the few words the British brought home from the Anglo-Afghan Wars.
Simon Norfolk
A watchtower guarding a street of foreign embassies in central Kabul. For the British army these improvised fortifications are called ‘sangars’, although the term is Dari for ‘barricade’ and is one of the few words the British brought home from the Anglo-Afghan Wars.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.14
There are 16,000 US Marines aboard Camp Leatherneck spread over 1,600 acres. Empty shipping containers are used as storage, wind breaks or blast walls. In May 2010 a mysterious fire, that may have been sabotage, destroyed 9 acres of containers. It burned so furiously that fire fighters even lost two of their fire engines.
Simon Norfolk
There are 16,000 US Marines aboard Camp Leatherneck spread over 1,600 acres. Empty shipping containers are used as storage, wind breaks or blast walls. In May 2010 a mysterious fire, that may have been sabotage, destroyed 9 acres of containers. It burned so furiously that fire fighters even lost two of their fire engines.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.95
‘Radio TV Mountain’ in the centre of Kabul seen from where the Kabul River cuts through the mountains creating the Deh Mazang gorge. In the First Anglo-Afghan War it was the site of a crucial skirmish and hasty retreat by badly outnumbered British cavalry who had blundered into the midst of a massive Afghan army.
Simon Norfolk
‘Radio TV Mountain’ in the centre of Kabul seen from where the Kabul River cuts through the mountains creating the Deh Mazang gorge. In the First Anglo-Afghan War it was the site of a crucial skirmish and hasty retreat by badly outnumbered British cavalry who had blundered into the midst of a massive Afghan army.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.3
The Political Staff of the British Embassy
Simon Norfolk
The Political Staff of the British Embassy
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.55
The tennis court of the British Embassy.
Simon Norfolk
The tennis court of the British Embassy.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.85
The armoury of the British Embassy. The Embassy has a guard force of five hundred.
Simon Norfolk
The armoury of the British Embassy. The Embassy has a guard force of five hundred.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.82
Accommodation units, known as ‘pods’, for lower ranking diplomats of the British Embassy.
Simon Norfolk
Accommodation units, known as ‘pods’, for lower ranking diplomats of the British Embassy.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.81
Jellallabad, the main street shewing covered Bazaar.
John Burke
Jellallabad, the main street shewing covered Bazaar.
1879, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.31
On the very northern edge of Kabul. A shipping container is re-purposed as home to men working in a yard casting concrete blast walls. Each section, when sold to foreign embassies or the military, fetches $1000 per piece.
Simon Norfolk
On the very northern edge of Kabul. A shipping container is re-purposed as home to men working in a yard casting concrete blast walls. Each section, when sold to foreign embassies or the military, fetches $1000 per piece.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.15
Shah-do-Shamshira Mosque was built in the 1920s on the site of one of Kabul’s first mosques, the Mosque of the King with Two Swords, named in honour of an early Muslim king who died fighting Hindu invaders.
Simon Norfolk
Shah-do-Shamshira Mosque was built in the 1920s on the site of one of Kabul’s first mosques, the Mosque of the King with Two Swords, named in honour of an early Muslim king who died fighting Hindu invaders.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.5