Finger millet has found an unexpected place in contemporary Indian art as Arunachal Pradesh-born designer and artist Jenjum Gadi transforms memories of his childhood village into intricate brass works.

Gadi's ongoing exhibition, Ngok Dolu, at Gallery Vayu in New Delhi draws inspiration from Tirbin, the Arunachal Pradesh village where he grew up. The Galo-language title translates to “my village,” reflecting the deeply personal character of the exhibition.

More than 30 artworks explore landscapes, agriculture, plants, birds and other elements of village life through brass sculptures, installations, wall hangings and beaten-metal panels.

For Millets.News, the most significant work is Amo Tami, a triptych depicting the agricultural landscape of Tirbin through paddy, corn and finger millet. These crops evoke Gadi's recollection of a village that was largely self-sufficient, with families obtaining much of their food from fields and forests rather than markets.

The inclusion of finger millet gives the exhibition an agricultural dimension beyond its artistic significance. Rather than presenting the grain through nutrition, production statistics or commercial products, the artwork positions it within the lived cultural landscape of a Himalayan community.

Gadi's childhood memories include time spent in gardens while adults worked in agricultural fields, visits to rivers and experiences surrounded by the crops and vegetation of Tirbin. His brass works transform those memories into physical objects intended to preserve elements of a landscape and lifestyle that have changed over time.

The artist observes that Tirbin's roads, farming practices, water sources and everyday ways of life have evolved. His work does not reject development but raises questions about maintaining balance while communities and landscapes change.

For millet audiences, Ngok Dolu offers a different perspective on the significance of traditional grains. Finger millet is represented not simply as an agricultural commodity, but as part of landscape, memory, food culture and community identity.

The exhibition therefore demonstrates how traditional crops can survive culturally beyond farms and kitchens—becoming subjects through which artists document changing rural environments and preserve agricultural heritage.