057

EXHIBITED
Tsunami 2004-2005 (Valentine Willie Fine Arts, Kuala Lumpur, December 25, 2005 - January 14, 2006). (Work not featured in exhibition pamphlet catalogue.)
Half of Malaysia fundraiser, Rimbun Dahan, Kuang, July 29-30, 2007

When the tsunami hit on December 26, 2004 it left a worldwide carnage of more than 230,000 deaths. The repeated CNN footages of the Armageddon-like disaster moved Nirmala Dutt Shanmughalingam to come up with a dedicated series of 32 works in acrylic on canvas with two collages, more as a closure and a source of emotional palliation.

“That night, I didn’t even know what to say to God in prayers......I started painting and could not stop......I would paint until the canvases run out and would ring my supplier to quickly send me some more so I could continue...”

In a brief interview with Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers about this work, Nirmala recounted how she was moved to come up with what was and probably still is her largest body of works to date, as she poured herself into painting in the days that ensued, allowing God to work through her and her emotions to take the works to a new height.

Each of the 32 deeply emotional abstract paintings, though featuring the same engulfing waves and water, sea of ashes and bright blue sky (perhaps hinting at the artist’s hope for a brighter day) was essentially unique in their own ways as they serve as records of the artist’s myriad of emotions then. The work on offer is a particularly forceful piece, probably capturing the anger and frustration the artist was feeling at the time, and her sense of awe at the potent impact that Mother Nature is capable of.

“My works had often touched more on the human element, our destruction of nature, the social injustices around us...but in this work, I came face to face with the forces of nature...I realized that we are essentially hopeless if nature wants to come against us. We thought we are safe living in a country without earthquakes or tsunami, yet none of us could escape the impact if it ever comes...”

Nirmala donated this painting, Tsunami LIII, to the Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) for its Half of Malaysia fundraiser for its Refuge and Child Care Centre at an exhibition at Rimbun Dahan, 2007. The work was sold to its current owner.

Nirmala is the country’s most socially committed artist and her works have touched on humanitarian, socio-political and environmental issues.