Simon Norfolk
The swimming pool that crowns Tepe Wazir Akbar Khan, built by the Soviets in the 1970s and restored in recent times at great expense by USAID. It is uncertain if it will ever be used.

The swimming pool that crowns Tepe Wazir Akbar Khan, built by the Soviets in the 1970s and restored in recent times at great expense by USAID. It is uncertain if it will ever be used.

© Simon Norfolk / Gallery Luisotti

The swimming pool that crowns Tepe Wazir Akbar Khan, built by the Soviets in the 1970s and restored in recent times at great expense by USAID. It is uncertain if it will ever be used.
The swimming pool that crowns Tepe Wazir Akbar Khan, built by the Soviets in the 1970s and restored in recent times at great expense by USAID. It is uncertain if it will ever be used.
ArtistBritish, born Nigeria, 1963
CultureBritish
Titles
  • The swimming pool that crowns Tepe Wazir Akbar Khan, built by the Soviets in the 1970s and restored in recent times at great expense by USAID. It is uncertain if it will ever be used.
  • 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 number2016.224.20
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
Mahomed Tahir Khan, Aslam Khan &c of Ghazni.
John Burke
Mahomed Tahir Khan, Aslam Khan &c of Ghazni.
1878–1880, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.67
A security guard’s booth at the newly restored Ikhtyaruddin citadel, Herat.
Simon Norfolk
A security guard’s booth at the newly restored Ikhtyaruddin citadel, Herat.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.29
‘The Museum Of The Jihad’ in Herat. In the centre of the tableau of anti-Soviet mujahedeen guerrillas is Ismail Khan, one-time Governor of Herat and minister in the national government. Mythologising their role in the Jihad helps justify their control and ownership of Afghanistan’s modern warlord economy.
Simon Norfolk
‘The Museum Of The Jihad’ in Herat. In the centre of the tableau of anti-Soviet mujahedeen guerrillas is Ismail Khan, one-time Governor of Herat and minister in the national government. Mythologising their role in the Jihad helps justify their control and ownership of Afghanistan’s modern warlord economy.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.12
Khan of Lalpura and Followers with Political Officer.
John Burke
Khan of Lalpura and Followers with Political Officer.
1878, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.66
The Amir Yakub Khan, General Daod Shah, Habeebula Moustafi with Major Cavagnari C.S.I and Mr Jenkyns.
John Burke
The Amir Yakub Khan, General Daod Shah, Habeebula Moustafi with Major Cavagnari C.S.I and Mr Jenkyns.
1879, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.72
The Amir Shere Ali Khan.
John Burke
The Amir Shere Ali Khan.
1869, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.50
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
A cellphone booster-station built on the wreckage of buildings that once housed a market.
Simon Norfolk
A cellphone booster-station built on the wreckage of buildings that once housed a market.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.18
Jaw Aka Faizal Nahman and his daughter Nono from Bamiyan province, now living in an improvised plastic shelter in the ruined gardens of Darulaman Palace. Built in the 1920s to house an Afghan parliament, ‘Darul Aman’ translates as ‘abode of peace’.
Simon Norfolk
Jaw Aka Faizal Nahman and his daughter Nono from Bamiyan province, now living in an improvised plastic shelter in the ruined gardens of Darulaman Palace. Built in the 1920s to house an Afghan parliament, ‘Darul Aman’ translates as ‘abode of peace’.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.19
A shaded rest area built by helicopter re-fuelling crews at Camp Bastion.
Simon Norfolk
A shaded rest area built by helicopter re-fuelling crews at Camp Bastion.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.84
‘The Museum of the Jihad’, Herat. A diorama illustrating the city rising up against the Soviets.
Simon Norfolk
‘The Museum of the Jihad’, Herat. A diorama illustrating the city rising up against the Soviets.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.96