Searching For Mustard Fields (2021–22) explores the secrecy and concealment interlaced with romantic love in the South Asian Diaspora. These ephemeral moments of affection operate as acts of defiance, reflecting the artist’s own desire to freely love in a culture that considers an individual’s ability to choose romantic and matrimonial partners from a place of love as taboo. Photographing her subjects' relationships with a voyeuristic gaze, the artist evokes a presence looming over each couple in their private, tender moments—a presence experienced in Rafa’s own relationship. Throughout the project, she alludes to the Bollywood movies of her childhood, whose stories represent an idealistic version of love, often far from the lived experiences of South Asian youth. Rafa utilizes these stories of radical love defiantly, juxtaposing them with the limitations placed on intimate relationships—garnering hope from the images of lingering touches and warm glances sheltered from the public eye.