New Photographers - Simon Norfolk

This is one of the many photographs from the series 'Afghanistan: Chronotopia' which is one of my favourite series from Simon Norfolk. This is because of three reasons, one being how hard hitting his photographs are, two his meaning behind this series and thirdly his love for large format cameras. This series for me is incredible thanks to the meaning behind it, Norfolk takes something from art as early as the Renaissance and give it a modern twist using a very political, social and economical matter that is common in today’s world. That is the war on terrorism and the invasion of Afghanistan. He takes the view of beauty and romance behind the painting of ruins from the Renaissance era and uses this to show this key event in the modern world, by turning this ideological view upside down. The ruin before you has not been excavated to show the old world in all its glory but instead shows the modern world in its most periling and destructive form. The ruins of what would have been the hub of laughter and bliss is now just a skeleton in a bleak landscape. This is thanks to almost 30 years on constant conflict in this once beautiful country. The only salvation for the modern world in this photograph is the lone balloon seller, which thanks to international help is allowed to sell something that was banned from the streets of this country for many years. These two juxtapose really well together to create one of my favourite photographs of the last ten years.

http://www.simonnorfolk.com/