Witness to Life and Freedom

Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971) was a pioneering American photojournalist. As staff photographer for the popular Life Magazine, she captured some of the defining moments of the twentieth century, which often took her to troubled spots around the world. She was the first female war correspondent, and covered combat during the Second World War. The first American to be allowed into the Soviet Union, she travelled through the country documenting its rapid industrialisation, and even managed to photograph Joseph Stalin at the Kremlin. Some of Margaret's most celebrated photographs were taken in India and Pakistan in 1947-48, as the two countries marched towards freedom from British colonial rule. She photographed the times and the leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi (who called her his 'torturer') and Muhammed Ali Jinnah. She was eyewitness to the migration of millions and the mayhem of communal violence that accompanied the subcontinent's partition into two independent nations. This body of work forms the focus of this book.