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Nirmala, one of the pioneer artists focusing on social commentary, uses stark photographic news images, which she silkscreened and painter over, to highlight socio-political-environmental issues. Her themes cover squatters and environmental degradation (logging) to genocide in Vietnam, Africa, Cambodia and particularly with the Sabra and Shatila massacre in 1982, which brought about the Beirut series during 1983-85.

According to the artist, only two larger works on canvas (sizing at 122cm by 206cm) resulted from the Beirut series. One of them is currently on a world-touring exhibition Breaking the Veils: Woman Artists from the Islamic World, where Nirmala is one of the two female Malaysian artists featured in this exhibition (the other being Dato’ Sharifah Fatimah), while the other is in the possession of a local collector in Kuala Lumpur.

Interestingly, the artist commented that her series often start with larger works on canvas, then followed by a number of smaller works on paper, before she embarks onto another theme. As such, her works on paper, such as this piece on offer, marks the essence of each series and though smaller, are as significant as those on canvas.The artist once told writer Chu Li: “We have lived with this nightmare for far too long. At least I hope as artists, we didn’t stand by and walk away....”