PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN (Afghanistan, 2010-2011)
In 2010 and 2011 Simon Norfolk travelled through Afghanistan, following the footsteps of the Irish war photographer John Burke (1843-1900), a pioneer who between 1878 and 1880 photographed in the country, then as now torn by war. The photographs that Norfolk made on his trip are a response to, and in some cases his own interpretation of Burke’s war photographs, which are shown next to Norfolk’s. Norfolk shows us two sorts of perverted cities. On the one hand there is a city like Kabul, with a flourishing security and military industry, almost no normal middle class or generally accepted economic production, and a lively informal market. On the other hand, he encountered huge military bases, with their busy airfields and extensive amenities. The result is a ‘tale of two cities’ – both sick and untenable.
