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.

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 / Gallery Luisotti

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.
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.
ArtistBritish, born Nigeria, 1963
CultureBritish
Titles
  • 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.
  • Burke + Norfolk: Photographs from the war in Afghanistan
Date2010–2011, printed September 2011
Place depictedKabul, Afghanistan
MediumChromogenic print
DimensionsImage: 14 3/8 × 19 3/16 in. (36.5 × 48.7 cm)
 Sheet: 15 × 20 in. (38.1 × 50.8 cm)
Credit LineGift of Morris Weiner
Object number2016.224.46
Not on view

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]
Norfolk prints are 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.

Strongly pro-Taliban refugees. For the photograph, they chose to partially cover their faces.
Simon Norfolk
Strongly pro-Taliban refugees. For the photograph, they chose to partially cover their faces.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.68
Refugees from fighting between NATO and the Taliban in Nangarhar province, close to the Pakistan border, now sheltering on wasteground in Kabul.
Simon Norfolk
Refugees from fighting between NATO and the Taliban in Nangarhar province, close to the Pakistan border, now sheltering on wasteground in Kabul.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.35
At a music school in Kabul, boys are taught the traditional Afghan instrument the rubab. Difficult to play, it is a skill which nearly became extinct during the Taliban prohibition on secular music.
Simon Norfolk
At a music school in Kabul, boys are taught the traditional Afghan instrument the rubab. Difficult to play, it is a skill which nearly became extinct during the Taliban prohibition on secular music.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.60
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
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
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
Radio Afghanistan’s new transmitters paid for by American money; broadcasting official government news and anti-Taliban security alerts.
Simon Norfolk
Radio Afghanistan’s new transmitters paid for by American money; broadcasting official government news and anti-Taliban security alerts.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.39
Pakistani ‘jingle trucks’ end their long journey up from Karachi at the gates of Kandahar Airfield where they wait to be scanned, X-rayed and searched. Only people, ammunition and emergency requirements come by aircraft. Warlord-owned security companies protecting convoys can charge $15,000 per truck, but a large part of the fee is paid to Taliban protection rackets.
Simon Norfolk
Pakistani ‘jingle trucks’ end their long journey up from Karachi at the gates of Kandahar Airfield where they wait to be scanned, X-rayed and searched. Only people, ammunition and emergency requirements come by aircraft. Warlord-owned security companies protecting convoys can charge $15,000 per truck, but a large part of the fee is paid to Taliban protection rackets.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.77
Security lights and communications antennae at Camp Leatherneck.
Simon Norfolk
Security lights and communications antennae at Camp Leatherneck.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.88
Shergai Heights looking towards Ali Musjid.
John Burke
Shergai Heights looking towards Ali Musjid.
November 1878, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.89
A storage yard at Kandahar Airfield looking out beyond the wire, back into ‘Afghanistan’.
Simon Norfolk
A storage yard at Kandahar Airfield looking out beyond the wire, back into ‘Afghanistan’.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.99
Afghan police trainees being taken to the firing ranges by US Marines, Camp Leatherneck, Helmand.
Simon Norfolk
Afghan police trainees being taken to the firing ranges by US Marines, Camp Leatherneck, Helmand.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.75