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.

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 / Gallery Luisotti

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.
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.
ArtistBritish, born Nigeria, 1963
CultureBritish
Titles
  • 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.
  • 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 × 20 in. (38.1 × 50.8 cm)
Credit LineGift of Morris Weiner
Object number2016.224.60
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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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
Young women in the indoor skatepark of the NGO ‘Skateistan’, set up by American volunteers to help young Afghans improve their skateboarding and indoor rock-climbing skills.
Simon Norfolk
Young women in the indoor skatepark of the NGO ‘Skateistan’, set up by American volunteers to help young Afghans improve their skateboarding and indoor rock-climbing skills.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.61
‘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
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
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
Jawad, who like many Afghans uses just the one name, out playing with an old tyre in the Mikrorayon district of Kabul.
Simon Norfolk
Jawad, who like many Afghans uses just the one name, out playing with an old tyre in the Mikrorayon district of Kabul.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.2
The future home of The Afghan Cash And Carry Superstore on the road between the foreign embassies and Kabul Airport.
Simon Norfolk
The future home of The Afghan Cash And Carry Superstore on the road between the foreign embassies and Kabul Airport.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.8
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
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.
2010–2011, printed September 2011
Chromogenic print
2016.224.7
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
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
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
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