Field Notes from Begumpura by Rahee Punyashloka

Field Notes from Begumpura is an ongoing project by artist Rahee Punyashloka that imagines a future where Dalit and Adivasi communities live free from the violence and oppression of the caste system. Inspired by the 15th-century poem “Begumpura” (“The City with No Sorrows”) by Guru Ravidas—one of South Asia’s earliest visions of a utopian society—the project takes the form of speculative ethnographic field notes documenting this fictional casteless world. Reclaiming the colonial conventions of ethnography, Punyashloka transforms a historically oppressive mode of documentation into a tool for self-representation and liberation. Drawing on South Asian mural traditions and the visual languages of Dalit and Adivasi communities, the installation celebrates artistic practices that have long been marginalized while envisioning new possibilities for justice, dignity, and belonging. The murals are accompanied by a zine created by Punyashloka and Bao, a Dalit designer and illustrator, which expands on the stories, symbols, and imagined histories woven throughout the installation. Rahee Punyashloka’s Field Notes from Begumpura is supported by the Fowler Fellows and the Fowler Contemporary Council