profile
Nirmala Shanmughalingham (born 1941) has been painting since the early 1960’s and has participated in numerous group exhibitions both in Malaysia and internationally. She began her training under Mohamed Hoessein Enas and went on to art schools in the United States and the U.K., returning to Malaysia in 1978. A pioneer in many senses, being the first artist to exhibit an installation piece at the National Art Gallery in 1973, and one of the first artists to make use of documentary photography in her work, and to engage with "public art" through the distribution of work by mail, she has since become a prominent figure in Malaysian art. Certainly one of the region’s most important women artists, she has remained committed to using art to awaken social conscience. Her paintings of the 80s and 90s have been provoked by international atrocities of the century - the Vietnam War, environmental pollution, the Beirut conflict, the deforestation of Malaysia’s jungles, the tragic war in Bosnia, often integrating newspaper images and text. More recently she has grappled with issues of rape and child abuse in Malaysia, in an installation-based exhibition Virgin Spring Today & Siti [link to site], and in 2005, she produced a powerful and unsettling body of paintings Tsunami 2004-2005.

news

Nirmala Dutt Shanmughalingam held her first gallery solo exhibition in seven years at the end of 2005, showing a new, powerful and unsettling body of paintings, Tsunami 2004-2005. This August we bring the show to University Sains Malaysia.

exhibition links

biography

Born, 1941, Penang, Malaysia
EDUCATION
1992-95	London post-graduate printmaking, Goldsmiths College MPhil research
	Post Graduate Studies, London University: University College
1975-78	Oxford Polytechnic (Oxford Brooks University), Oxford, England
1970-71	Studied Art History at Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University
	Studied drawing at Boston College of Art & Cambridge Education Centre, Mass.
1966-67	Studied at Corcoran School of Art, Washington D.C.
1962	Attended art classes held by Hoessein Enas in Kuala Lumpur
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2005	Tsunami 2004-2005, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur
2002	Virgin Spring Today & Siti, installation artworks at the artist’s studio, Kuala Lumpur
1998	Nirmala Dutt Shanmughalingam: A Review, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur
1981	The Condition of Being, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2004	Dewicitra, Galeri Shah Alam, Malaysia
2003	Public Art II: Siti
2002-2005	Breaking the Veil: Women Artists from the Islamic World, Amman, Jordan; Rhodes, Greece; Valencia, Spain; Naples, Italy; Luxembourg; Barcelona, Spain
1999	Two Women, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur
1997	Public Art: The Story of Ogre Citrus: Distributed by mail.
	ASEAN Masterworks Exhibition; 2nd Informal Summit at the Mines Resort the National Art Gallery
1996	Figurative Approaches in Modern Malaysian Art, Galeri Petronas, Kuala Lumpur
	Modernity and Beyond: Themes in Southeast Asian Art, Opening Exhibition of Singapore Art Museum
1995	2nd Generation Artists, Galeri Petronas, Kuala Lumpur
1992	Risalah Dari Malaysia (Message from Malaysia), The Royal Society of Fine Arts, Amman, Jordan and National Art Gallery, Dayabumi Complex, Kuala Lumpur
	Women and Creativity, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
1991	The Question of Identity The Malaysian-ness of Malaysian Art, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
	Exhibition of Paintings by Indonesian and Malaysian Women Artists, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur
	Art and the Social Context, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
	Show by Malaysian Nature Society’s Greening Fund
	Malam Puisi Alam (Poetry on the Environment), Kuala Lumpur
	Modern Masters, GaleriWan, Kuala Lumpur
	Art Document I, Artiquarium, Kuala Lumpur
1990	Open Show, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
	Women and Creativity, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur
	Malaysian Artists’ Association (PPM) Exhibition, Johor Bahru and Kuching
	5th Asian International Exhibition Malaysia, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
	APS 90, Kuala Lumpur
1989	Exhibition of Paintings by Malaysian Artists’ Association, National Art Gallery, Bangkok
	Question of Palestine, City Hall, Kuala Lumpur
	3rd Asian Art Show, Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan
	Contemporary Art from Islamic Countries, Barbican Centre, London
	Metromania, Perth, Australia
1988	Contemporary Paintings of Malaysia, Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, California
	First ASEAN Travelling Exhibition of Photography, Paintings and Children’s Art, Bandar Seri Bagawan, Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila and Singapore
	Hiroshima Day Exhibition, City Hall, Kuala Lumpur
	Pameran Perdana 3, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
	Pameran Pelukis Sezaman Malaysia, Menara Maybank, Kuala Lumpur
	Wanita Malaysia Sejarah Cabaram, Keberanian dan Kesungguhan (Malaysian Women A History of Challenge, Courage and Dedication), Arkib Negara
1987	Malaysian Art 1957-87, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
	Pameran Minggu Palestin (Palestine Week Exhibition), Johore Bahru, Malaysia
1986	Side by Side: Contemporary British and Malaysian Art, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
1985	Endau Rompin Pasar Seni Exhibition and Auction to raise funds for the Malaysian Heritage and Scientific Expedition, Endau Rompin
1984	American Experiences Malaysian Images, American Embassy, Kuala Lumpur Saujana Fine Art Exhibition, City Hall, Kuala Lumpur
1983	National Invitation Show, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
	Titian I (Bridge I), Malaysian Artists’ Association, National Museum Art Gallery, Singapore
1982	Sericipta Puteri Malaysia, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur
	Geraktara, Penang Museum and Art Gallery
	25 Years of Malaysian Art, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
	5th Triennale India, New Delhi
1981	Perdana (Premier) Exhibition, Malaysian Artists’ Association, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur
1981-85	ASEAN Travelling Exhibition of Painting and Photography
1979	Exhibition of Squatter Children and Pollution Series, International Year of the Child Conference, The National Council of Women Organisations (NCWO)
	Exhibition of Squatter Children Series, Man and the Biosphere Programme, Child and Environment Regional Seminar by MAB, Ministry of Health, Socio- Economic Research Unit (SERU), Prime Minister’s Department, and UNESCO
	Malam Nada Warna (Evening of Colour Tones), Grup Teater Elit, Puan Sri Frances Ariffin, National Museum of Art And Selangor Philharmonic Society Exhibition
	Slide presentation and seminar of Squatter Series by Medical Faculty, University of Malaya
	Year of the Child Exhibition, Mobile Exhibition by Ministry of Health, Malaysia
1974	National Photography Exhibition, National Museum, Kuala Lumpur
1973	Man & His World exhibition, National Art Gallery
1972	Malaysian Landscape, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
1968	Salon Malaysia, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
1964-69	Annual Exhibitions, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
1957	International Exhibition of Child Art, The Hague, Holland