Simon Norfolk
Yards supplying construction materials in Nawabadi Guzargah district of Kabul, overlooked by American-controlled electronic eavesdropping equipment on the summit of Kohe Asmai.

Yards supplying construction materials in Nawabadi Guzargah district of Kabul, overlooked by American-controlled electronic eavesdropping equipment on the summit of Kohe Asmai.

© Simon Norfolk / Gallery Luisotti

Yards supplying construction materials in Nawabadi Guzargah district of Kabul, overlooked by American-controlled electronic eavesdropping equipment on the summit of Kohe Asmai.
Yards supplying construction materials in Nawabadi Guzargah district of Kabul, overlooked by American-controlled electronic eavesdropping equipment on the summit of Kohe Asmai.
ArtistBritish, born Nigeria, 1963
CultureBritish
Titles
  • Yards supplying construction materials in Nawabadi Guzargah district of Kabul, overlooked by American-controlled electronic eavesdropping equipment on the summit of Kohe Asmai.
  • from the portfolio Burke + Norfolk: Photographs from the War in Afghanistan
Date2010–2011, printed September 2011
Place depictedKabul, Afghanistan
MediumChromogenic print
DimensionsImage: 14 3/8 × 19 1/8 in. (36.5 × 48.6 cm)
 Sheet: 15 x 20 in. (38.1 x 50.8 cm)
Credit LineGift of Morris Weiner
Object number2016.224.38
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]
Norfolk prints are signed and numbered on verso lower right, within artist's stamp

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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The whole eastern side of Kabul, for miles along both sides of Jalalabad Road is one huge logistics yard capable of supplying the foreign military and rapidly growing embassies with everything they might need from a single cup of coffee right through to an entire airstrip.
Simon Norfolk
The whole eastern side of Kabul, for miles along both sides of Jalalabad Road is one huge logistics yard capable of supplying the foreign military and rapidly growing embassies with everything they might need from a single cup of coffee right through to an entire airstrip.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.21
A Shia cemetery on the flanks of Kohe Asmai.
Simon Norfolk
A Shia cemetery on the flanks of Kohe Asmai.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.43
At Wasalabad high above West Kabul. It has taken 26 men from the Mine Detection Centre and four de-mining dogs more than three months to clear mines from an area the size of a few soccer pitches. Kabul’s rapid expansion has increased pressure for building land. Mined areas that were once marginal are now in demand for house construction.
Simon Norfolk
At Wasalabad high above West Kabul. It has taken 26 men from the Mine Detection Centre and four de-mining dogs more than three months to clear mines from an area the size of a few soccer pitches. Kabul’s rapid expansion has increased pressure for building land. Mined areas that were once marginal are now in demand for house construction.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.44
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
The peripheries of the city of Kabul, especially to the north and east are endless building sites. Since most of the documentation concerning land title was lost during the war, much of this speculative and illegal construction is concerned more with establishing undisputable ‘facts on the ground’. Apartments and shops are, almost exclusively, unoccupied.
Simon Norfolk
The peripheries of the city of Kabul, especially to the north and east are endless building sites. Since most of the documentation concerning land title was lost during the war, much of this speculative and illegal construction is concerned more with establishing undisputable ‘facts on the ground’. Apartments and shops are, almost exclusively, unoccupied.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.24
One of the huge logistics compounds at Camp Leatherneck. A modern, technologized army needs hundreds of thousands of different kinds of objects in order to keep it working. A $100m warplane can be grounded for the want of a $1 part. Supplying these things is a huge drain on an army’s resources and its greatest vulnerability.
Simon Norfolk
One of the huge logistics compounds at Camp Leatherneck. A modern, technologized army needs hundreds of thousands of different kinds of objects in order to keep it working. A $100m warplane can be grounded for the want of a $1 part. Supplying these things is a huge drain on an army’s resources and its greatest vulnerability.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.90
Wasteland at the back of shops used as stabling for draft horses. In the distance is the Bala Hissar citadel, now home to an Afghan Army base and mooring for one of the American blimps that carry electronic surveillance gear and cameras.
Simon Norfolk
Wasteland at the back of shops used as stabling for draft horses. In the distance is the Bala Hissar citadel, now home to an Afghan Army base and mooring for one of the American blimps that carry electronic surveillance gear and cameras.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.10
‘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
Historically, Kuchis were strongly pro-Taliban; feelings made more intense by being bombed by NATO off their traditional grazing lands in Helmand. They are allowed to set up camp here on Kabul’s periphery only because it is below a large, new Afghan Army base.
Simon Norfolk
Historically, Kuchis were strongly pro-Taliban; feelings made more intense by being bombed by NATO off their traditional grazing lands in Helmand. They are allowed to set up camp here on Kabul’s periphery only because it is below a large, new Afghan Army base.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.46
A view of Kabul city centre from Bala Burj.
Simon Norfolk
A view of Kabul city centre from Bala Burj.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.49
The Sham-e-Paris (‘Parisian Evenings’) wedding hall in the Taymani neighbourhood. Common in Pakistan, these huge wedding complexes have sprung up all over Kabul with dining and entertainment halls to seat a thousand on each storey and even an on-site honeymoon hotel.
Simon Norfolk
The Sham-e-Paris (‘Parisian Evenings’) wedding hall in the Taymani neighbourhood. Common in Pakistan, these huge wedding complexes have sprung up all over Kabul with dining and entertainment halls to seat a thousand on each storey and even an on-site honeymoon hotel.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.13
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