In the desert village of Samwata, we returned to the sacred Oran–a protected grove of land and memory–with the Meena Bhil community, whose histories have long been silenced or excluded from dominant narratives. Through a participatory mural and storytelling process, we created a living archive of collective memory. Over several days, women gathered to paint a 60-foot mural on the village fort wall–reclaiming a space from which their voices were once absent. The mural centres on memories of the Degrai Mata and ancestral knowledge of water, honouring the community’s deep relationship with spirit, land, and ecology. Aligned with the Oran Bachao movement, this work becomes a visual resistance–reminding us that storytelling is a form of survival, and that reclaiming erased spaces with the abundant stories of those excluded from them is a powerful act of remembering.

Challenge

Our project aimed to challenge the colonial classification of Orans as ‘wastelands’ and amplify local resistance to their destruction. By centering the voices of women from Samwata, we reimagined Thar as sacred and abundant.

PASI in Action

Wall Murals and Infrastructure Art

We spent over a week in Samwata village co-creating the mural with the Meena Bhil community–hosting story circles, shared meals, and drawing sessions with women, elders, herders, and children. We followed the Fearless methodology of listening, co-creating, and reclaiming. Rather than arrive with a fixed design, we listened deeply to memories of the Oran–its water bodies, spirits, and songs–which shaped the visual language of the mural. Community members painted alongside us each day, reclaiming the fort wall as a living archive of their abundant memory. The process honoured lived experience as knowledge, making art with the people who hold the stories.

Partners Involved

Aranyanilife, I Love Foundation and Sumer Singh Ji (community partner).

Impact

The project had a big impact: Women from the Meena Bhil community, who are from scheduled caste and were previously not "allowed" to enter the fort, stepped in and reclaimed it through painting. As we painted a well on the wall, the actual well in the village was restored, all thanks to the funds raised by Aranyani, Fearless and the local community. It was a beautiful moment of restoration and empowerment for the women.

Conclusion

By rooting the process in participatory art, the project became a catalyst for both symbolic and tangible change, transforming exclusion into empowerment. As stories flowed onto the wall, so did agency return to the women, who reclaimed space, memory, and a future shaped by their own hands.