Archive · 15 Aug 2026
Photo project explores how Partition reshaped Punjab border families
A long time ago, the land called India and the land called Pakistan were split into two different countries.
This big change is called the Partition.
During that time, many families were broken apart, and brothers and sisters lost each other.
A photographer named Ahmad wanted to show how those families still feel this today.
He stayed in small villages near the border between India and Pakistan.
The villages were called Kakar, Pul Kanjri, Lopoke, and Preet Nagar.
He met families whose relatives disappeared and families who lost touch with their extended relatives.
He took photos of their farms and their lives.
Some farmers have land on the other side of a fence that separates the two countries.
His photo project was shown in the United States.
A photo project explores how the Partition reshaped families living in villages along the India-Pakistan border in Punjab.
Photographer Ahmad carried out a residency in the villages of Kakar, Pul Kanjri, Lopoke and Preet Nagar, meeting families impacted by Partition.
The project was showcased in the United States last year.
Ahmad links the Radcliffe Line to Punjab's contemporary reality, including farmlands lying in no-man's land between India and Pakistan.
One image shows a Sikh farmer whose land holdings lie on the other side of a barbed wire fence erected by the Border Security Force in the late 1980s.
- Who
- Photographer Ahmad and families in Punjab's border villages who were separated from siblings and lost touch with relatives during the Partition.
- What
- A photo project documenting how the Partition reshaped families in villages along the India-Pakistan border in Punjab.
- When
- The project was showcased in the United States last year; the residency period itself is not specified in the article.
- Where
- The villages of Kakar, Pul Kanjri, Lopoke and Preet Nagar in Punjab; the project was exhibited in the United States.
- Why
- To explore how the Partition and the Radcliffe Line shaped family lives and the contemporary reality of the region, such as farmlands cut off by the border.
- Art form
- Photography
- Artist
- Ahmad
- Villages visited
- Kakar, Pul Kanjri, Lopoke, Preet Nagar
- State
- Punjab
- Exhibition location
- United States
- Fence erected by
- Border Security Force
- Fence established
- Late 1980s
- Fence purpose
- Check smuggling of arms and drugs and infiltration