Artist Jenjum Gadi bridges Galo heritage and modern art in his new show in Delhi
Jenjum Gadi - a member of the Galo tribe from Arunachal Pradesh - has turned Delhi’s Lodhi Road into a living archive of his childhood landscape. In his latest show at Gallery Vayu-Design for Living, the artist stages brass renditions of familiar vegetables, fruits and garden scenes, inviting viewers to wander through a cultivated memory of the Eastern Himalayas.
For two decades the creator worked in fashion, stitching runway pieces that now hang in closets. Dissatisfied with the ephemerality of fabric, he embraced metal, finding in brass a material that ages, patinas and records its surroundings much like the heirloom plates exchanged in his community.
The exhibition is populated by life-sized installations: a towering banana tree, a sprouting brinjal, bitter-gourd vines and the wild taktir fruit, each cast in glowing coppery tones. Signature pieces such as Benju, Yirya/Yirnam, and the wall-mounted Ane (Mother) arrange crops in Instagram-like grids or depict his mother at a loom, blending personal narrative with a visual language that recalls Rajasthan’s pichhwai scrolls.
Beyond nostalgia, Gadi voices alarm over deforestation and the concrete-clad transformation of his Tirbin village. He has founded the Northeast India Public Art Trust to channel the region’s artistic talent into wider exposure, hoping the brass that now adorns Delhi will one day echo back to the hills he calls home.