| b. Lagos, Nigeria 1963 |
| Simon Norfolk is a landscape photographer whose work over twenty years has been themed around a probing and stretching of the meaning of the word 'battlefield' in all its forms. As such, 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 the test-launching of nuclear missiles. Time’s layeredness in the landscape is an ongoing fascination of his. |
| His work has been widely recognised: he has won The Discovery Prize at Les Rencontres d'Arles in 2005; The Infinity Prize from The International Center of Photography in 2004; and he was winner of the European Publishing Award, 2002. In 2003 he was shortlisted for the Citibank Prize now known as the Deutsche Börse Prize and in 2013 he won the Prix Pictet Commission. He has won multiple World Press Photo and Sony World Photography awards. |
| He has produced four monographs of his work including 'Afghanistan: Chronotopia' (2002) which was published in five languages; 'For Most Of It I Have No Words' (1998) about the landscapes of genocide; and 'Bleed' (2005) about the war in Bosnia. His most recent is 'Burke + Norfolk; Photographs from the War in Afghanistan.' (2011). |
| He has work held in major collections such as The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, The Getty in Los Angeles as well as San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Wilson Centre for Photography and the Sir Elton John Collection. His work has been shown widely and internationally from Brighton to Ulaanbaatar and in 2011 his 'Burke + Norfolk' work was one of the first ever photography solo shows at Tate Modern in London. |
| He has been described by one critic as 'the leading documentary photographer of our time. Passionate, intelligent and political; there is no one working in photography that has his vision or his clarity.' He is currently running at a pretty nifty Number 44 on 'The 55 Best Photographers of all Time. In the History of the World. Ever. Definitely.' |
Selected Solo Exhibitions
| 2015 | Simon Norfolk: Time Taken, Michael Hoppen Gallery, London |
| 2013 | A Disaster Season, Prix Pictet Commission, Les Rencontres d'Arles, France |
| Burke + Norfolk: Photographs From the War in Afghanistan, Stimultania Pole de Photographie, Strasbourg, France | |
| Burke+Norfolk: Dirty Hands, Millennium Art Museum, Beijing | |
| Burke+Norfolk T.R.I.P Travel Routes in Photography, Museo dei Fori Imperiali, Rome, Italy | |
| Burke+Norfolk: War + Memory, Sori Arts Centre, Jeonbuk Art Centre, Jeonju, South Korea | |
| Full Spectrum Dominance: missiles, rockets, satellites in America, Dong Gang International Photo Festival, Yeongwol, Korea | |
| 2012 | Burke + Norfolk, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland |
| Burke + Norfolk, Side Gallery, Newcastle, UK | |
| Burke + Norfolk, National Galerie of Tapisserie, Beauvais, France | |
| Burke + Norfolk: Imaging History, FOMU, Antwerp, Germany | |
| For Most Of It I Have No Words: Genocide, Landscape, Memory, The Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, UK | |
| For Most Of It I Have No Words, Centro Andaluz de la Fotografia Andalusian Dept of Culture, Andalusia, Spain | |
| For Most Of It I Have No Words, Museo de Arte Comtemporano Gas Natural Fensoa, Coruna, Spain | |
| 2011 | Burke + Norfolk, Tate Modern, London, UK |
| Burke + Norfolk, Michael Hoppen Gallery, London, 'Burke + Norfolk.' Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, | |
| Burke + Norfolk, Moeller Fine Art, Berlin, Germany | |
| Burke + Norfolk, Bonni Benrubi Gallery, New York | |
| Burke + Norfolk, Athens Photo Month, Greece | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Fenosa, Barcelona, Spain | |
| Burke+Norfolk: Reality Check, Athens Photography Festival, Hellenic Centre of Photography, Athens, Greece | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia: Generation 9/11, GEMAK, The Hague, The Netherlands | |
| Full Spectrum Dominance, Belfast Photo Festival University of Ulster N. Ireland | |
| Burke+Norfolk, Noorderlicht Photo Festival, Groningen, The Netherlands | |
| 2010 | Afghanistan: chronotopia, The Guernsey Photo Festival, Guernsey, Channel Islands |
| Simon Norfolk: A Retrospective, Andulsian Centre of Photography, Almeria, Spain | |
| I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that, BIP 2010 (OUT OF) CONTROL, 7th International Biennial of Photography and Visual Arts Liège, Belgium | |
| 2009 | Full Spectrum Dominance: Manifest Destiny, Moeller Fine Art, Berlin, Germany |
| Blenheim Oaks, Garden of the Year Award Photographic Exhibition at Blenheim Palace, HHA and Christies, London | |
| 2008 | Full Spectrum Dominance, New York Photo Festival, NYC, USA |
| Simon Norfolk: A Retrospective, MACUF – Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Unión Fenosa, La Coruña, Spain | |
| Beirut: How did you come to smell of smoke and fire?, Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA | |
| 2007 | I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that, La Médiatine, Brussels |
| 'I'm sorry Dave…..', McBride Fine Arts, Antwerp | |
| Archaeological Treasures from the Tigris Valley, Le Theatre Royal de Namur, Belgium | |
| Et in Arcadia ego, Ogilvy and Mather, New York | |
| Et in Arcadia ego, Illinois Holocaust Museum, Chicago, USA | |
| Et in Arcadia ego, The Halsey Gallery of the College of Charleston, South Carolina, USA | |
| 2006 | Et in Arcadia ego, Russian Academy of Fine Arts, Moscow 'I'm sorry Dave….' The AoP Gallery, London |
| Et in Arcadia ego, Shanghai Art Museum, China | |
| Welcome to the Hotel Africa, Lavitt's Quay and Sirus Arts Centre, Cork European City of Culture 2005, Ireland | |
| 2005 | Refuge: the first safe place, Sirius Arts Centre, Cork European City of Culture 2005, Ireland |
| Et In Arcadia ego, Bonni Benrubi Gallery, New York | |
| Bleed, Rencontres Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR | |
| Et in Arcadia Ego, Les Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, France | |
| Utah, Omaha, Gold, Sword, Juno, Galerie Martin Kudlek, Köln, Germany | |
| 2004 | Scenes from a Liberated Iraq, FotoFest, Houston |
| Scenes from a Liberated Iraq, Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA | |
| Conflicted Landscapes, The Photographers' Gallery, London, UK | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, Benham Gallery, Seattle, WA | |
| 2003 | Afghanistan: chronotopia, Grand Rapids Community College, Grand Rapids, MI |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, Blue Star Art Space, San Antonio, TX | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, Fotofestival Naarden, The Netherlands | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, 2nd International Photography Festival, Rome, Italy | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, The Sirius Arts Centre, Cork, Ireland | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, Belfast Exposed, Belfast, N.Ireland | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, The Citibank Prize, The Photographers' Gallery, London | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, The Citibank Prize, Photo Espana, Madrid, Spain 'Afghanistan: chronotopia,' Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, The Citibank Prize, Museum Kunst Palast, Dusseldorf, Germany | |
| For Most Of It I Have No Words, The Society For Contemporary Photography, Kansas City, MO | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, Trace Gallery, Weymouth, Dorset , UK | |
| 2002 | Afghanistan: chronotopia, Minneapolis Center for Photography, Minneapolis, USA |
| For Most Of It I Have No Words, Minneapolis Center for Photography | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, The British Council, London, UK | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool,UK | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, Side Gallery, Newcastle, UK | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, Photofusion Gallery, London, UK | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, Hereford Photography Festival, Hereford, UK | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, Les Rencontres d'Arles, France | |
| For Most Of It I Have No Words, Photosynkyria, Thessaloniki | |
| For Most Of It I Have No Words, Holocaust Museum, Houston | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, Deutsches Architektur Museum, Frankfurt, Germany | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, Gallerie FOTO, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina23 | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, Florence Photography Festival, Florence, Italy | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, The Sani Festival, Thessaloniki, Greece | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, The Griffin Center for Photography, Boston, MA | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, Galerie Martin Kudlek, Köln, Germany | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, The Halsey Gallery at The College of Charleston, Charleston, SC | |
| Afghanistan: chronotopia, FotoFest, Houston, TX | |
| For Most Of It I Have No Words, Portland Art Museum, OR | |
| For Most Of It I Have No Words, Imperial War Museum, London | |
| 2000 | For Most Of It I Have No Words, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool |
| For Most Of It I Have No Words, The Royal Photographic Society, Bath, UK | |
| For Most Of It I Have No Words, 5th International Fototage Herten, Germany | |
| 1999 | For Most Of It I Have No Words, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland |
| For Most Of It I Have No Words, Side Gallery, Newcastle | |
| For Most Of It I Have No Words, Nederlands Foto Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands | |
| For Most Of It I Have No Words, Impressions Gallery, York, UK |
Selected Group Exhibitions
| 2016 | Project Pressure, Lighthouse Foundation, Pilot Island, Germany |
| 2014 | Constructing Worlds: Photography and Architecture in the Modern Age, Barbican Art Gallery London, UK |
| Conflict, Time, Photography, Tate Modern, London, UK | |
| The New York Times Magazine Photographs, Aperture Gallery, NY, USA | |
| The Sensory War 1914-2014, Manchester Art Gallery, UK | |
| Second Sight, David Kronn Collection, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland | |
| Human Nature: 15 years, German Börse Art Collection Deutsche Börse, Eschborn, Germany | |
| 2013 | Kythera Island Photography Festival, Kythera, Greece |
| Landmark: The fields of Photography, Somerset House, London, UK | |
| The New York Times Magazine Photographs, Sala Gasco Arte Contemporaneo, Santiago, Chile | |
| Sony World Photography Awards, Somerset House, London, UK | |
| War/Photography: Photographs of Armed Conflict and it's Aftermath, The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY | |
| Caught in the Crossfire: Artistic responses to conflict, The Herbert Gallery, Coventry, UK (Israel Gilo Wall) | |
| War/Photography: Photographs of Armed Conflict and it's Aftermath, Annenberg Space of Photography, Los Angeles, CA | |
| War/Photography: Photographs of Armed Conflict and it's Aftermath, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. | |
| 2012 | The New York Times Magazine Photographs, Palau Robert Museum, Barcelona, Spain (Cern) |
| War/Photography: Photographs of Armed Conflict and it's Aftermath, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX | |
| The New York Times Magazine Photographs, Foam Photography Museum, Amsterdam | |
| Seduced by Art:Photography Past and Present, The National Gallery, London, UK (Burke+Norfolk) | |
| Seduced by Art:Photography Past and Present, CaixaForum, Barcelona, Spain (Burke+Norfolk) | |
| Seduced by Art:Photography Past and Present, CaixaForum, Madrid, Spain (Burke+Norfolk) | |
| GuatePhoto International Photography Festival 2012, Guatemala City, Guatemala (Burke+Norfolk) | |
| 2011 | Continuity,' International Group Exhibition, Center for Contemporary Art, Celje, Slovenia (Burke+Norfolk) |
| New Delhi Photography Festival, New Delhi, India (Burke + Norfolk film) | |
| 30 Years of the New York Times Magazine, (Aperture Foundation) Les Rencontres d'Arles, France | |
| Collateral Damage, Look 11 Festival, Liverpool, UK (Full Spectrum Dominance) Belfast Photo | |
| Festival University of Ulster N. Ireland (Full Spectrum Dominance) | |
| Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (Ascension Island) | |
| Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (Ascension Islands) | |
| Conflict, Conservation and Contemplation, Metal Culture, Southend and Liverpool, UK (Refuge: The first safe place) | |
| Migration and Nomadic Living in 21st Century, Backlight Photo Festival Tampere, Finland (Refuge: The first safe place) | |
| 2010 | Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera, Tate Modern Gallery, London (Ascension Island and Full Spectrum Dominance) |
| What We're Collecting Now: Constructed Spaces, George Eastman House, Rochester, NYC | |
| 2008 | Fall Out: War and Conflict, British Council Collection, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK |
| AOP Gallery Summer Exhibition, London, UK (Blenheim Oaks) | |
| Tilt, Breda International Photo Festival, Breda, The Netherlands (CERN) | |
| *20, Hereford Photography Festival , Hereford, UK (Full Spectrum Dominance) | |
| FotoGrafia, Festival Internazionale di Roma, Italy | |
| REVIVE Group Show, Michael Hoppen Contemporary, London (Full Spectrum Dominance) | |
| Human Conditions, Noorderlicht Photo Festival, The Netherlands (Full Spectrum Dominance) | |
| The Brighton Photo Biennale (Baghdad) | |
| Biennale Internazionale di Fotografia di Brescia, Italy (Afghanistan 2001) | |
| 2007 | Dark Shade, Light of Hope, Chung-pa Gallery, Seoul, Korea |
| Dark Shade, Light of Hope, The Mongolian National Modern Art Gallery, Ulaanbaatar | |
| Beautiful Suffering, Photography And the Traffic in Pain. Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts | |
| Ingenuity (Engineering in Photography), The Calouste Gulbenkian, Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal | |
| Loaded Landscapes, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago | |
| Aftershock, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Art, Norwich, UK | |
| 2006 | Break 2.4, International Art Festival, Ljubljana, Slovenia |
| post-doc, Thessaloniki Museum of Photography, Greece | |
| Night of the Museums, Stifftung Deutsche Böurse, Frankfurt | |
| Ecotopia, The Second ICP Triennial, International Center of Photography, New York | |
| 2005 | Long Exposures: Contemporary photo-essays from the permanent collection, LACMA, Los Angeles (Baghdad) |
| Vital Signs, The George Eastman House, Rochester, NY, USA | |
| Srebrenica – Remembrance for the Future, organized by the Heinrich Böll Stiftung. Tour to Brussels, Belgrade, Berlin, Athens, Washington, Strasbourg and Sarajevo | |
| 2004 | Arti & Archittettura, Palazzo Ducale, Genova, Italy (Afghanistan 2001) |
| 2003 | War, Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, Spain (Afghanistan 2001) |
| IN NATURE – The obsessive eye, the absent mind, The Tenth Turin Biennale, Turin (Afghanistan 2001) | |
| M_ARS Art and War, Neue Gallerie Graz, Austria (Afghanistan 2001) | |
| The Citibank Prize, The Photographers' Gallery, London (Afghanistan 2001) | |
| The Citibank Prize, Museum Kunst Palast, Dusseldorf (Afghanistan 2001) | |
| The Citibank Prize, Photo España, Madrid (Afghanistan 2001) |
Bibliography
| 2011 | 'Burke + Norfolk Photographs from the war in Afghanistan' p166 (Dewi Lewis Publishing, Manchester) |
| 2009 | 'Full Spectrum Dominance – Missiles, Satellites, Rockets.' (Self-published, limited-edition leporello) |
| 2007 | 'Afghanistan: chronotopia.' 166 pp. (Dewi Lewis Publishing, Manchester) 2nd Ed. |
| 2005 | 'Bleed' 64 pp (Dewi Lewis Publishing, Manchester) |
| 2003 | 'Afghanistan' A limited edition box set of 12 images. (Dewi Lewis Publishing, Manchester) |
| 2002 | 'Afghanistan Zero,' 166 pp. (Edition Braus, Heidelberg) |
| 'Afghanistan.' 166 pp. (Peliti Associati, Rome) | |
| 'Afghanistan: chronotopia.' 166 pp. (Actes Sud, Arles) | |
| 'Afghanistan: chronotopia.' 166 pp. (Lunwerg Editores, Barcelona) | |
| 'Afghanistan: chronotopia.' 166 pp. (Dewi Lewis Publishing, Manchester) | |
| 1998 | 'For Most Of It I Have No Words: Genocide, Landscape, Memory.' With an introduction by Michael Ignatieff. 194 pp. (Dewi Lewis Publishing, Manchester) |
Selected Public Collections
| Tate Modern, London | |
| The Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle | |
| The National Media Museum, Bradford | |
| The Moscow House of Photography, Russia | |
| Gana Art Center, South Korea | |
| The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston | |
| The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles | |
| San Francisco Museum of Modern Art | |
| Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego | |
| The Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas | |
| Los Angeles County Museum of Art | |
| Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas | |
| Illinois Holocaust Museum, Illinois | |
| Wolverhampton Museum | |
| St. Louis Art Museum, Missouri | |
| Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri | |
| Cleveland Museum of Art | |
| Milwaukee Art Museum | |
| The Weismann Art Museum, Minneapolis | |
| Portland Art Museum, Oregon | |
| George Eastman House, Rochester, NY | |
| International Center of Photography, New York | |
| The Dow Jones Collection, NY | |
| Wilson Centre for Photography, London | |
| The British Council Collection, London | |
| Channel 4 TV (UK), London | |
| The Hayward Gallery, London | |
| The Sir Elton John Collection | |
| The ING Bank Art Collection, Belgium | |
| Deutsche Böurse Collection | |
| Deutsche Bank Collection | |
| The Citibank Collection | |
| The Bank of America Collection |
Awards and Honors
| 2013 | Prix Pictet Commission |
| 2012 | AOP Photographers Awards, UK Gold |
| Sony World Photography Awards, UK Winner: Landscape | |
| Sony World Photography Awards, UK Winner: Portrait | |
| World Press Photo Portrait Stories | |
| 2011 | Makers' Muse Award, The Kindle Project, Santa Fe, New Mexico |
| 2010 | American Photography 26 'Photography Annual' PDN BMW Shortlisted Paris Photo |
| 2008 | American Photography 24 'Photography Annual' PDN |
| 2006 | AOP Photographers Awards, UK 'Document' Prize AOP Photographers Awards, UK Silver Award |
| 2005 | The Association of Photographers' Bursary |
| Le Prix Dialogue, Les Rencontres d'Arles | |
| Grant from Aperture in conjunction with the Joy of Giving Something, Inc NY | |
| 2004 | The Infinity Award from the International Center of Photography, New York |
| 2003 | Shortlisted for the Citibank Prize 2003 The Stuttgart Fotobuchpreis The Olivier Rebbot |
| Award for International Reporting from the Foreign Press Club of America |
Commissions
| 2013 | Prix Pictet Commission to photograph the changing seasons in the C. Highlands of Afghanistan |
| 2010 | Side Gallery to photograph in the remains of the Durham Coalfield in NE England |
| 2004 | Joy of Giving Something, Inc. Fund commission for Aperture Magazine |
| 'Coalfield Stories,'Side Gallery, Newcastle; looking at changes in the landscape of East Durham coalfield since the end of the mining industry. | |
| 2005 | Artist in Residence to the Irish Army commissioned to produce work on Irish UN Peacekeeping operations in Liberia and Kosovo. To be exhibited at Collins Barracks, Cork and Sirius Art |
| Centre, Cork, part of 'Cork 2005, European City of Culture.' |