Works
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A dumping ground for an abandoned Russian-era bomber that has now been incorporated into the car park of ‘Shamshad TV’, a new media company supported heavily by American money. Kabul, 2010
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*Not for Sale Untitled (Large Hadron Collider, no. 4), 2006
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“CEA, Circuit Board On The End Of Acrobat Arm”, The supercomputers: ‘I’m Sorry Dave, I’m Afraid I Can’t Do That,’ 2006, 2006
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The Lewis Glacier, Mt. Kenya, 2004
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“Mist Shrouded Trees”, Ascension Island: The Panopticon, 2003, 2003
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King Amanullah's 1919 Victory Arch at Paghman, 2001/2002
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Astra 1, Toulouse
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Untitled (Large Hadron Collider, no. 2), 2006
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Medellin, Colombia
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Prison Staircase, Auschwitz, 1996
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Time Taken 6, Early Autumn, 2013 - 2014
Biography
Born in Lagos and educated in Oxford and Bristol, Simon Norfolk is a landscape photographer whose work over the past fifteen years has been themed around a probing and stretching of the meaning of the word 'battlefield' in all its forms. He has photographed in some of the world's worst war-zones and refugee crises, but is equally at home photographing supercomputers used to design military systems or test-launches of nuclear missiles.
Simon Norfolk is a very talented driven young photographer who is pursuing one of life’s big questions with intensity and focused intention. He is studying war, and its effects on many things: the physical shape of our cities and natural environments, social memory, the psychology of societies, and more.
- Jim Casper, Lensculture
A recurring theme in Norfolk's work is time. Focused on contemporary events and interest, his past works Afghanistan: Chronotopia and Ascension and Island: The Panopticon found him capturing landscapes awash in the social and political layers of recent human history. With Stratographs, Norfolk's ambition was to map, in his words, "time's thickness" by illustrating the swiftly receding Lewis Glacier on Mount Kenya, and the slow slippage of the seasons in war torn Afghan landscape.
Norfolk's work has been widely recognised; he was awarded The Discovery Prize at Les Rencontres d'Arles in 2005; the Infinity Prize from The International Center of Photography in 2004; and the European Publishing Award in 2002. In 2003 he was shortlisted for the Citibank Prize (now known as the Deutsche Böurse Prize), and in 2013 he won the Prix Pictet Commission. His work has been shown internatinally, and is held in many major collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Getty in Los Angeles, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, TX, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO. In 2011, London's Tate Modern curated a solo exhibition of his Burke+Norfolk.
Exhibitions
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? The image as question
28 Sep - 26 Nov 2016'? The image as question: An exhibition of evidential photography' is a large group show at Michael Hoppen Gallery.Read more -
Simon Norfolk
Time taken 3 Aug - 10 Sep 2015Michael Hoppen Gallery is delighted to announce Simon Norfolk’s third exhibition of photographs with the gallery, Time Taken, a poetic tracing of time on the war-torn landscape of Afghanistan.Read more -
Simon Norfolk
Burke + Norfolk: Photographs from the war in Afghanistan 13 May - 18 Jun 2011John Burke (1843-1900) was the first ever photographer to make pictures in Afghanistan. He accompanied British forces during the invasion that became the Second Anglo-Afghan War from 1878-1880 producing a...Read more
Video
News
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Simon Norfolk
New Website December 5, 2017Photojounalist Simon Norfolk has a new websiteRead more -
SIMON NORFOLK
British Archaeological Awards 2016 July 12, 2016Photographer Simon Norfolk has won an award for his documentary work with National Geographic.Read more -
SIMON NORFOLK
'Seen on Earth' exhibition 17 March – 30 June, 2016Artist Simon Norfolk will be exhibiting at Kunst Haus Wein from 17 March.Read more -
Simon Norfolk
Under London at the Museum of London 21 January – 3 July 2016Documentary photographer Simon Norfolk discovers the artefacts hidden beneath modern LondonRead more -
National Geographic: Simon Norfolk
Rescuing Mes Aynak August 25, 2015Simon Norfolk reporting in the National Geographic. Investigating a heritage site in Afghanistan under threat by both the Taliban and Copper mining.Read more -
We have a winner!
Simon Norfolk: 1st place, Landscape, Professional, 2015 Sony World Photography Award April 29, 2015Simon Norfolk, winner of the Sony World landscape photographer of the year award, 2015, Kenya, ice, fire, melting glaciersRead more -
Simon Norfolk
Sony World Photography Awards 2015: Professional shortlist March 2, 2015Sony, World, Photography, Awards, 2015, Professional, shortlist, London, Somerset House, environment, fire, glaciers, landscape, change, mountainsRead more
Press
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Sean O'Hagan's top 10 photography exhibitions of 2016
Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, December 7, 2016 -
The Image as Question: An Exhibition of Evidential Photography
Will Britten, Film's Not Dead, November 9, 2016 -
Proof Reading: Tracing the history of evidential photography
Charlotte Harding, British Journal of Photography, September 26, 2016 -
Simon Norfolk: Under London
Roff Smith, National Geographic, January 12, 2016 -
Simon Norfolk. Time Taken
Wall Street Journal, August 3, 2015 -
Simon Norfolk's changing seasons
Telegraph Luxury, August 3, 2015 -
Simon Norfolk: Time Taken
Sarah Emily Gilbert, Urban Agenda, NYC, July 28, 2015 -
TIME: Discover an Enduring Afghanistan Through Its Landscape
Lucia De Stefani, TIME magazine, online, July 28, 2015 -
In Pictures: Bamiyan valley, Afghanistan
BBC worldwide, July 27, 2015 -
Simon Norfolk: Time Taken at Michael Hoppen Gallery, London
Aesthetica Magazine, July 22, 2015 -
A Land for all seasons, Simon Norfolk captures the scarred beauty of Afghanistan
Sunday Times Magazine, Spectrum, July 19, 2015 -
The Internet Has Changed the Way We Remember War
Oscar Rickett, Vice online, November 25, 2014 -
The scars of war: how good is photography at capturing conflict?
Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian Online, November 25, 2014 -
160 years of war photography: an audiovisual guide to the world's most powerful conflict images
The Guardian, November 24, 2014 -
How To Spend It: The art of photojournalism
PERNILLA HOLMES, How To Spend It, April 5, 2014 -
Simon Norfolk Silk Scarf
Wallpaper Photography App, October 30, 2013 -
Prix Pictet: Simon Norfolk in Afghanistan
FT magazine, June 28, 2013 -
Haven't we been here before?
Ian Jack, The Guardian, April 23, 2011 -
Simon Norfolk: Satellite
Patrick Burgoyne, Creative Review, September 23, 2010
Publications
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