Exodus, Pakistan
Margaret Bourke-White
American, 1904–1971
1947
A gelatin silver–print photograph by Margaret Bourke‑White that records a column of refugees during the 1947 Partition, made to document and humanize the mass exodus for a wide readership.
From a low vantage the image fills with a sweeping, sunlit procession: draped figures and heavy bundles march across the frame beneath an enormous pale sky, the central man carrying a woman on his shoulders lending the scene both dignity and urgent motion.
Shot at the moment of Partition, the work exemplifies documentary photojournalism’s power to make distant crises visible and helped define postwar visual narratives of displacement while highlighting Bourke‑White’s role as a pioneering woman photographer.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
11 × 10 3/4" (27.9 × 27.3 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of LIFE Magazine
Accession
97.1959.1
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
