Nirmala Dutt Shanmughalingam (b. 1941, Malaysia) 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 UnitedStates and the U.K., returning to Malaysia in 1978. She has since become a prominent figure in Malaysian art. 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 documentaryphotography 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. “She has devoted herself during the last few years to expressing the human predicament in adverse conditions” (Contemporary Paintings of Malaysia, 1988).
