On the war path

Photographer Simon Norfolk returned to Afghanistan to re-trace the steps of his 19th century counterpart John Burke, says Tina O’Sullivan.

BURKE + Norfolk is a new exhibition at the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork that features the work of the contemporary British photographer Simon Norfolk and the Irishman John Burke (circa 1843 — 1900).

Norfolk started his career as a photojournalist, but was inspired by the political unrest in Afghanistan to become a fine art photographer. A chance encounter brought Burke to hiss attention: Burke was the first photographer to work in Afghanistan — during the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-80) — but he had largely been forgotten.