#: locale=en
## Action
### PDF
PopupPDFBehaviour_20BC76E7_3D72_EA7D_41C5_9F4A7908A6FE.url = files/SITI-A3+_FAOL(new)_en.pdf
PopupPDFBehaviour_18677A79_42BD_1A55_41CB_6B2FF8C5663E.url = files/nirmala-handwritten_en.pdf
PopupPDFBehaviour_5415EFBA_633D_A82C_41B8_901D11DDDD61.url = files/NIR-Kenyataan1_BM_FA_en.pdf
PopupPDFBehaviour_566299EB_633F_E823_41D3_1009FCAB8A60.url = files/NIR-Kenyataan1_EN_FA_en.pdf
### URL
LinkBehaviour_28972E5E_1841_902A_41BB_0151F2ACD974.source = http://www.ilhamgallery.com/exhibitions/dream-of-the-day/
LinkBehaviour_21A4C5A1_1846_9016_41BC_BD6FABBE5740.source = http://www.ilhamgallery.com/exhibitions/dream-of-the-day/
LinkBehaviour_7F7ADA3C_5F14_6824_41D3_72283F540228.source = https://maps.app.goo.gl/yQYAzqARi6eZD4ei8?g_st=iw
## Media
### Title
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### Video
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### Video Subtitles
## Popup
### Body
htmlText_82B2E657_9325_C86A_41C2_F240DEF95B95.html = “I am an artist first and foremost — not necessarily just a woman artist or feminist artist or political artist.”
Nirmala Dutt (1941–2016) cuts a sharp and unusual figure in Malaysian art history.
She was one of very few women artists in her generation to forge and sustain a practice and presence in the local art scene, and gain recognition beyond. While she preferred not to refer explicitly to gender as a framework, her works addressing social injustice and the atrocities of war highlighted most of all the suffering of women, and children. She was a stridently political artist whose work consistently spoke truth to power, without fear.
She maintained all these positions, and more, because she was an artist first; that is, her primary role and motivation was expression. Her understanding and concept of art was broad and worldly: while schooled and adept in the languages of the Western modernist painting tradition, she also drew inspiration from the spirit of social criticism within Asian art history and its rebel artists, from Jamini Roy to the Zen monk Sengai to Shitao, Bada Shanren and Zheng Xie (who famously resigned from his position as a magistrate after being criticised by wealthy officials for building a shelter and distributing grain to victims of drought).
It was clear that Nirmala’s practice stood apart from as early as 1973, when she presented a pile of rubbish, a grid of photographs of urban pollution, and a collection of newspaper articles as her entry for the Man and His World competition at the National Art Gallery. She broke ground in her use of found materials, installation, photomontage, documentary photography, and social commentary, especially in shedding light on environmental issues. Yet her work may remain unfamiliar to many today, even though she was tutored, defended and championed by some of the most influential figures in modern Malaysian art. It is perhaps her tense position on the threshold between outsider and insider that gives Nirmala’s work an added sense of daring and freshness.
In this exhibition, major series of Nirmala Dutt’s works are brought together as a presentation of “statements”, as she herself titled her first major body of works from 1973 to 1979. The works that followed the text and photo assemblages of Kenyataan/ Statements are mainly series of paintings on canvas, often involving silkscreen, found text and images, and gestural as well as hard-edge elements, with later experiments in installation and mail art. In each series, Nirmala addressed a specific subject, often triggered by a current event or observation, with recurring images and strategies allowing us to build connections and intuit themes across them.
The exhibition unfolds into three broad sections.
At the heart of the gallery, there are works that speak of the personal and the domestic, of her position as “artist” and the perception of “woman”. The right section of the gallery focuses on her works which reveal the human and environmental costs of building the supposedly “progressive” nation that is Malaysia today. Presented here are her series on pollution, the plight of squatters and urban poor, the displace- ment of communities for development, the stripping of nature and commodification of culture, and the vanity of the nation’s “Great Leap Forward”, spanning the 1970s to 1990s. To the left, her paintings, made in parallel during the 1980s and 1990s hold up to us the victims of global conflict and racial violence through series after series—Anak Asia, Vietnam, Africa, Beirut, Bosnia—and lambast the geopolitical pow- ers and machinations that created them. Finally, in her last major body of work, Nirmala was moved to find expression for the tragedy of the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 whose reverberations were felt the world over.
We can read Nirmala Dutt’s “statements” as statements of protest against the violence carried out by man against the environment and his fellow human beings. Or we could read them as witness statements, where the artist is not merely a bystander but actively gathering evidence of and bearing witness to the injustices and tragedies of her time. Or as warning statements, of the consequences of human greed, ambition, hypocrisy, and carelessness. On another level, they are also a statement of her own existence within it all, a record of the events of her time and her deeply felt responses to them. Each gesture of her brush is an indictment. Today, as climate change accelerates, a new cold war brews, indigenous communities continue to struggle for their land and rights, and urban development shows no sign of slowing, Nirmala’s calls to conscience remain more urgent than ever.
Curated by Beverly Yong, Rahel Joseph, Snow Ng, & Ellen Lee.
Africa I
1980
Acrylic and mixed media on canvas
91.3 × 99 cm
Collection of National Gallery Singapore
After Sengai
2013
Acrylic on canvas
91 × 76.5 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Anak Asia
1983
Acrylic and silkscreen on canvas
81.2 × 60.9 cm
ILHAM Collection
Anak Asia I
1980
Acrylic on canvas
153 × 153 cm
Collection of Tan Sri Kamarul Ariffin
Anak Asia II
1981
Mixed media
168.5 × 123 cm
Collection of National Art Gallery of Malaysia
Anakku Sayang (Kepada Usman Awang)
1979
Photographic essay
76 × 61 cm
Private Collection
Bakun “Work in Progress”
1999
Acrylic on jute
122 × 205.5 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Beirut V
1983
Acrylic on canvas
122 × 206 cm
Collection of Valentine Willie
Bosnia I
1996
Acrylic on canvas
102 × 90.5 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Christ with the Homeless I
1993 –1995
Indian ink (reed pen) on paper
45 × 63 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Christ with the Homeless II (AP)
1993 –1995
Lithograph
22 × 32 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Detail from the Last Supper, after Ghirlandaio
1993 –1995
Indian ink (reed pen) on paper
45.5 × 78 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Do Not Log Carelessly Lest Misfortune Befall You
1989
Acrylic on canvas
121 × 205 cm
Collection of Singapore Art Museum
Flower Seller I
1982
Woodcut with acrylic on canvas
25 × 19.5 cm
Private Collection
Flower Seller by the Gombak River II
1982
Acrylic and silkscreen on canvas
82 × 92 cm
Private Collection
Flowers (white on grey)
2009
Acrylic on canvas
122 × 152 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Flowers in a Nuclear Garden
c.1967
Batik – using liquid rubber & spray paint
52 × 47 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Friends in Need
1986
Acrylic and collage on canvas
121 × 121 cm
Collection of National Gallery Singapore
Great Leap Forward I
1998
Acrylic and silkscreen on canvas
102 × 92 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Great Leap Forward III
1998
Silkscreen and acrylic on canvas
102 × 92 cm
Collection of Srividhya Ganapathy
Great Leap Forward IV and the Wayang Mask of the Rangda from the Barong Dance, Bali
1998
Mixed media on canvas
102 × 92 cm
Private Collection
Great Leap Forward V - Twin Towers
1998
Acrylic on canvas
102 × 92 cm
Collection of Shantini Vanniasingham
Great Leap Forward VI - Bakun
1998
Silkscreen and acrylic on canvas
102 × 92 cm
Collection of National Gallery Singapore
Great Leap Forward VIII
1998-99
Acrylic on jute
102 × 92 cm
Private Collection
Homeless in London
1994
Silkscreen on canvas
79 × 35.5 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Illegal Logging in Sarawak
c.1989
Acrylic and collage on canvas
122 × 91 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Kampong Polo
1983
Silkscreen and acrylic on canvas
122 × 206 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Kampong Polo II
1984
Silkscreen and acrylic on canvas
122 × 206 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Kampong Polo VI
1982
Silkscreen and acrylic on canvas
133 × 164 cm
Private Collection
Kenyataan (Statement) I
1973
Photographs and found objects
73 × 91 × 124 cm
Collection of National Art Gallery of Malaysia
Reproduction: digital print on paper
Kenyataan (Statement) I
1973
Photographs and found objects
Dimensions variable
Collection of National Art Gallery of Malaysia
Partial reproduction: digital print on paper
Kenyataan (Statement) I
1973
Photographs and found objects
Dimensions variable
Collection of National Art Gallery of Malaysia
Partial reproduction: digital print on paper
Kenyataan (Statement) II (Impressions of Life in Squatter Areas)
1975
Photographic essay
90 × 80 cm × 2 pcs
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Kenyataan (Statement) II, detail
1975
Photographic essay
127 × 105 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Kenyataan (Statement) III
1979
Photographic essay
127 × 227 cm
Collection of National Art Gallery of Malaysia
Reproduction: digital print on paper
Kenyataan (Statement) IV
1979
Photographs and stickers on board
122 × 122 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
London’s Homeless V (AP)
1993 –1995
Lithograph with hand drawing
14.5 × 31 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
London’s Homeless VI (AP)
1993 –1995
Etching with ink wash
45.5 × 30 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
London’s Homeless XI
1995
Indian ink (reed pen) on canvas
102 × 92 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Lubang Maut (Pit of Death)
1980
Silkscreen and acrylic on canvas
122 × 122 cm
Collection of Muzium & Galeri Tuanku Fauziah, Universiti Sains Malaysia
Mah Meri Landscape
1999
Silkscreen and acrylic on canvas
102 × 61 cm
Collection of Srividhya Ganapathy
Mah Meri Landscape II
1999
Silkscreen and acrylic on canvas
91.5 × 107 cm
Collection of Srividhya Ganapathy
Mah Meri Landscape IV
1999
Silkscreen and acrylic on canvas
102 × 92 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Man-made Crisis: FAMINE
1973
Acrylic and collage on board
60.5 × 76 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Membalak Jangan Sebarangan Nanti Ditimpa Balak II
1990
Acrylic, ink and mengkudu dye on canvas
122 × 102 cm
Collection of Tan Sri Nazir Razak
Membalak Jangan Sebarangan Nanti Ditimpa Balak – Rumbia
1990
Acrylic and silkscreen on canvas
122 × 92 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Penjual Bungah “Flower Seller”
c.1975
Photographic essay
64 × 53 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Public Art: The Story of Ogre Citrus
1997
Poster (distributed by mail)
59.4 × 42 cm
Private Collection
Racial Violence
1988
Mixed media on canvas
97 × 137.5 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Self-portrait
1999
Collage and acrylic on canvas
101.8 × 91.4 cm
Collection of National Gallery Singapore
Self-potret (work-in-progress)
1999
Photograph and acrylic on canvas
40.5 × 40.5 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Study for “Save the Seed That Will Save the Black People”
1986
Collage, acrylic and ink on canvas
122 × 122 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Third Series of Documentations: Sunday, 25th Feb. 1979 – 5pm
1979
Ink, acrylic, and photographs on board
121.5 × 91.5 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Tsunami 2004 – 2005 IX
2005
Acrylic on canvas
101 × 91 cm
Private Collection
Tsunami 2004 – 2005 VI
2005
Acrylic on canvas
101 × 91 cm
Collection of Muzium & Galeri Tuanku Fauziah, Universiti Sains Malaysia
Tsunami 2004 – 2005 VIII
2005
Acrylic on canvas
101 × 91 cm
Private Collection
Tsunami 2004 – 2005 XI
2005
Acrylic on canvas
101 × 91 cm
Private Collection
Tsunami 2004 – 2005 XII
2005
Acrylic on canvas
101 × 91 cm
Private Collection
Tsunami 2004 – 2005 XXIX
2005
Collage and acrylic on canvas
101 × 101 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Tsunami 2004 – 2005 XXVII
2005
Collage and acrylic on canvas
101 × 101 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Tsunami 2004 – 2005 XXVIII
2005
Acrylic on canvas
101 × 101 cm
Private Collection
Untitled (London series)
1995
Acrylic on canvas
122 × 91.6 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Vanishing Species
1972
Acrylic on board
90 × 60 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Vanishing Species
1972
Acrylic on board
90 × 60 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Vanishing Species
1972
Acrylic on board
90 × 60 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Vanishing Species
1972
Acrylic on board
90 × 60 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Vietnam
1981
Acrylic on canvas
102 × 201 cm
Collection of National Art Gallery of Malaysia
View from Federal Hill I
1972
Acrylic on board
122 × 92 cm
Private Collection
Violence – for WAO
1988
Silkscreen on canvas
122 × 73.5 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Violence
1984/89
Silkscreen and acrylic on canvas
81.5 × 61 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Woman I
1999
Oil on canvas
50.8 × 40.7 cm
Collection of NUS Museum, National University of Singapore
Woman II
1999
Oil on canvas
50.8 × 40.7 cm
Collection of NUS Museum, National University of Singapore
Woman III
1999
Oil on canvas
50.8 × 40.7 cm
Collection of NUS Museum, National University of Singapore
Woman IV
1998
Acrylic on canvas
122 × 92 cm
Private Collection
Woman V
1999
Silkscreen and acrylic on canvas
142 × 92 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
“Aku pertamanya seorang artis —
tidak semestinya hanya seorang artis
wanita, artis feminis atau artis politik.”
Nirmala Dutt (1941–2016) seorang yang berwatak tajam dan luar biasa dalam sejarah seni Malaysia.
Beliau seorang daripada segelintir artis wanita generasinya yang telah membentuk dan meneruskan amalan dan kehadiran dalam persada seni tempatan, dan diiktiraf dunia luar. Dalam memilih untuk tidak merujuk secara jelas kepada jantina sebagai rangka kerja, karyanya yang menangani ketidakadilan sosial dan kekejaman perang menonjolkan penderitaan yang menimpa wanita dan kanak-kanak. Ianya tegas seorang artis politik yang tekal menyeru kepada kuasa, tanpa gentar.
Nirmala berjaya mengekalkan kesemua kedudukan ini kerana beliau pertamanya seorang artis; peranan dan motivasi utamanya ialah ekspresi. Fahaman dan konsep seninya adalah luas dan duniawi: dalam ianya terdidik dan mahir dalam bahasa tradisi lukisan modenis Barat, dia juga mendapat inspirasi daripada semangat kritikan sosial dalam sejarah seni Asia dan artis-artis penentang, dari Jamini Roy hingga sami Buddha Zen Sengai kepada sami Buddha Cina Shitao, Bada Shanren dan Zheng Xie (yang terkenal dengan peletakan jawatannya sebagai majistret selepas mengingkari pegawai-pegawai atasan dengan membina tempat perlindungan dan mengagihkan bijirin kepada mangsa kemarau).
Jelas sekali amalan seni Nirmala berbeza sejak tahun 1973 lagi, apabila beliau mengemukakan timbunan sampah, grid gambar pencemaran bandar, dan koleksi artikel akhbar sebagai penyertaannya untuk pertandingan Manusia dan Alamnya (Man and His World) di Balai Seni Lukis Negara. Beliau membuka landasan baharu dalam mengguna bahan temuan, pemasangan, montaj foto, fotografi dokumentari, dan komentar sosial, terutamanya bagi menjelaskan isu alam sekitar. Namun begitu karyanya mungkin masih lagi asing bagi kebanyakan orang hari ini, walaupun dia dibimbing, dipertahan dan diperjuang oleh beberapa tokoh paling berpengaruh dalam seni moden Malaysia. Mungkin ketegangan kedudukannya di ambang antara orang luar dan orang dalam yang menambah unsur rasa berani dan segar pada karyanya.
Dalam pameran ini, siri utama karya Nirmala Dutt dikumpulkan dalam sebuah persembahan “kenyataan”, sebagaimana beliau sendiri menamakan kumpulan pertama karya utama beliau dari 1973 hingga 1979. Kebanyakan karyanya selepas himpunan teks dan asemblaj foto Kenyataan/ Statements berupa siri catan atas kanvas, melibatkan cetakan saring-sutera, teks dan imej temuan, berunsur palitan gestural dan hard-edged, serta kemudiannya eksperimen dengan instalasi dan seni mel (mail art). Dalam setiap siri, Nirmala mengolah subjek tertentu, dicetus lazimnya oleh peristiwa atau pemerhatian semasa, dengan imej dan strategi berulang yang membolehkan kita membuat hubungan dan mengait tema.
Pameran ini terbahagi kepada tiga bahagian am.
Di tengah-tengah galeri, terdapat karya yang bercakap tentang hal peribadi dan domestik, kedudukan Nirmala sebagai “artis” dan tanggapan tentang “perempuan”. Bahagian kanan galeri menumpu kepada karya beliau yang mendedahkan akibat kepada manusia dan alam sekitar dalam membina negara yang dikatakan “progresif”, yakni Malaysia kini. Terpapar di sini ialah siri karya beliau mengenai pencemaran alam, nasib setinggan dan penduduk miskin di bandar, perpindahan komuniti untuk pembangunan, pelucutan alam semula jadi dan komodifikasi budaya, dan kesiasiaan usaha ‘lompatan hebat kehadapan’ negara yang menjangkau tahun 1970-an hingga 1990-an. Di bahagian kiri, terpamer lukisannya yang dibuat selari semasa 1980-an dan 1990-an, memapar mangsa konflik dan keganasan perkauman global dalam siri demi siri—Anak Asia, Vietnam, Afrika, Beirut, Bosnia—mengecam kuasa dan muslihat geopolitik yang menciptanya. Akhir sekali, dalam karya utama terakhirnya, Nirmala tergerak untuk mencari ekspresi bagi tragedi tsunami Lautan Hindi 2004 yang gemanya dirasai seluruh dunia.
Kita boleh membaca “kenyataan” Nirmala Dutt sebagai pernyataan bantahan terhadap keganasan yang dilakukan oleh manusia terhadap alam sekitar dan sesama manusia. Atau kita boleh membacanya sebagai kenyataan saksi, di mana si artis itu bukan hanya pemerhati tetapi secara aktif mengumpul bukti dan menjadi saksi kepada ketidakadilan dan tragedi pada zamannya. Atau sebagai kenyataan amaran, tentang akibat ketamakan, cita-cita, kemunafikan, dan kecuaian manusia. Pada tahap lain, kenyataannya juga merupakan kenyataan tentang kewujudan dirinya sendiri di dalam semua itu, sebuah rakaman peristiwa pada zamannya dan tindak balasnya yang mendalam terhadapnya. Setiap palitan berusnya adalah dakwaan. Dewasa ini, apabila perubahan iklim semakin pantas, perang dingin baharu bermula, masyarakat orang asli terus berjuang untuk tanah dan hak, dan pembangunan bandar tidak menunjukkan hasrat mengundur, seruan Nirmala kepada hati nurani kita nyata se- makin mendesak.
Dikurasikan oleh Beverly Yong, Rahel Joseph, Snow Ng, & Ellen Lee.
...the earth here is a rotten crust offering hardly a firm foothold here and there. Flies, mosquitos, and other minute species that thrive on the slime, hover around you. Oblivious to all this, the children pick among the littered decaying earth for a wizened looking shrub with edible brownish leaves—their contribution to the family meal.
Passage from Kenyataan (Statement) II, as cited by
Redza Piyadasa, in The Condition of Being, Dewan
Bahasa & Pustaka, 1981. Full text of Kenyataan
(Statement) II remains untraceable to date.
...bumi di sini bagaikan papan reput yang tidak dapat dipijak dengan selamat di sana sini. Lalat, nyamuk dan hidupan kecil lain yang hidup dalam lendir, merata. Tanpa mengendah semua ini, kanak-kanak menyocok-nyocok bumi semak reput-repah mencari apa-apa yang boleh dimakan—sumbangan juadah untuk keluarga.
Petikan daripada Kenyataan (Statement) II, yang
disebut oleh oleh Redza Piyadasa, dalam The
Condition of Being, Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka,
1981. Teks penuh Kenyataan (Statement) II masih
tidak dapat dikesan sehingga kini.
Flower Seller by the Gombak River II (1982) brings us to the heart of Kuala Lumpur city. The tired, haunted face and hands that fill this painting come from photographic portraits taken in 1975 of a frail-looking elderly woman selling a few bundles of jasmine. The portrait gives a face to the forgotten and overlooked of the bustling city, just surviving, offering goods of a similarly fragile beauty, plucked from nature, on the concrete banks of its waterways.
Flower Seller by the Gombak River II (1982) membawa kita ke tengah-tengah kota Kuala Lumpur. Wajah yang keletihan dan tangan yang mengerepot dalam lukisan ini adalah gambar seorang perempuan tua penjual melur yang diketik pada tahun 1975. Potret ini memberikan wajah kepada penghuni kota sibuk yang dilupakan itu, terkial-kial, menawar barang yang tidak kurang rapuh cantiknya, hadiah alam, dari tebing konkrit sungai-sungainya.
Friends in Need and Save the Seed That Will Save the Black People were removed from the exhibition Side by Side, a British-Malaysian contemporary art exhibition held at the National Art Gallery Malaysia in 1986. Friends in Need takes its title from the headlines of an article about Britain’s support of the United States’ bombing of Libya. The article which is incorporated in the work is juxtaposed with a photographic image of a dead child being carried out of the rubble. The repetitious use of this image forces the viewer to confront the atrocities of war particularly on the most innocent. Nirmala, who studied wayang kulit in Jakarta in the 80s, depicts US President Ronald Reagan as the war-mongering raksasa cakil, while a bare-breasted Margaret Thatcher, the British PM, is caricatured as the villainous raseksi. The removal of both works by an overzealous official from the Malaysian- British Society before the opening ceremony was condemned by the arts community
and received wide media coverage. Syed Ahmad Jamal, Director of the National Art Gallery ordered the works to be reinstated saying that, “Art does not always make you feel comfortable. Sometimes it is supposed to make you hot under the collar and react. Nirmala succeeds in doing that here.”
Friends in Need dan Save the Seed That
Will Save the Black People ditarik balik di pameran Side by Side, sebuah pameran seni kontemporari British-Malaysia yang diadakan di Balai Seni Negara Malaysia
pada tahun 1986. Judul Friends in Need ini diambil daripada tajuk sebuah artikel tentang sokongan yang diberikan oleh Britain terhadap pengeboman Amerika Syarikat ke atas Libya. Artikel yang turut dipamerkan bersama karya tersebut digandingkan dengan gambar mayat seorang bayi yang sedang dibawa keluar dari runtuhan. Gambar yang dipaparkan secara berulang-ulang ini memaksa penonton untuk berhadapan dengan kekejaman perang terutama sekali terhadap orang yang tidak bersalah. Nirmala yang belajar tentang wayang kulit di Jakarta pada tahun 80-an menggambarkan Presiden AS Ronald Reagan sebagai raksasa cakil. Margaret Thatcher, Perdana Menteri British pula digambarkan sebagai raseksi. Penarikan balik kedua-
dua buah karya itu oleh seorang pegawai Malaysian-British Society sebelum upacara pembukaan berlangsung mendapat kutukan daripada para penggiat seni dan mendapat liputan akhbar. Syed Ahmad Jamal, Pengarah Balai Seni Negara ketika itu, mengarahkan supaya karya tersebut dipamerkan semula. Kata beliau, “Seni tidak selalunya membuatkan anda selesa. Kadangkala, ia sepatutnya membuatkan anda panas dan bertindak. Nirmala berjaya dalam hal itu.”
Friends in Need and Save the Seed That Will Save the Black People were removed from the exhibition Side by Side, a British-Malaysian contemporary art exhibition held at the National Art Gallery Malaysia in 1986. Friends in Need takes its title from the headlines of an article about Britain’s support of the United States’ bombing of Libya. The article which is incorporated in the work is juxtaposed with a photographic image of a dead child being carried out of the rubble. The repetitious use of this image forces the viewer to confront the atrocities of war particularly on the most innocent. Nirmala, who studied wayang kulit in Jakarta in the 80s, depicts US President Ronald Reagan as the war-mongering raksasa cakil, while a bare-breasted Margaret Thatcher, the British PM, is caricatured as the villainous raseksi. The removal of both works by an overzealous official from the Malaysian- British Society before the opening ceremony was condemned by the arts community and received wide media coverage. Syed Ahmad Jamal, Director of the National Art Gallery ordered the works to be reinstated saying that, “Art does not always make you feel comfortable. Sometimes it is supposed to make you hot under the collar and react. Nirmala succeeds in doing that here.”
Friends in Need dan Save the Seed That Will Save the Black People ditarik balik di pameran Side by Side, sebuah pameran seni kontemporari British-Malaysia yang diadakan di Balai Seni Negara Malaysia pada tahun 1986. Judul Friends in Need ini diambil daripada tajuk sebuah artikel tentang sokongan yang diberikan oleh Britain terhadap pengeboman Amerika Syarikat ke atas Libya. Artikel yang turut dipamerkan bersama karya tersebut digandingkan dengan gambar mayat seorang bayi yang sedang dibawa keluar dari runtuhan. Gambar yang dipaparkan secara berulang-ulang ini memaksa penonton untuk berhadapan dengan kekejaman perang terutama sekali terhadap orang yang tidak bersalah. Nirmala yang belajar tentang wayang kulit di Jakarta pada tahun 80-an menggambarkan Presiden AS Ronald Reagan sebagai raksasa cakil. Margaret Thatcher, Perdana Menteri British pula digambarkan sebagai raseksi. Penarikan balik kedua-dua buah karya itu oleh seorang pegawai Malaysian-British Society sebelum upacara pembukaan berlangsung mendapat kutukan daripada para penggiat seni dan mendapat liputan akhbar. Syed Ahmad Jamal, Pengarah Balai Seni Negara ketika itu, mengarahkan supaya karya tersebut dipamerkan semula. Kata beliau, “Seni tidak selalunya membuatkan anda selesa. Kadangkala, ia sepatutnya membuatkan anda panas dan bertindak. Nirmala berjaya dalam hal itu.”
Usman Awang’s “Anakku Sayang” spoke to me about my squatter children and in 1979, I used some lines from the poem to underscore my first silkscreened images of squatter children entitled Anakku Sayang (1979) and dedicated it to Abang Usman. This very direct inspiration was almost a small collaboration in a way. Abang Usman was very kind and supportive. He used a Vietnam painting of mine for the cover of a book of poetry when he won the S.E.A. Writers’ Award. He continued to inspire me throughout the years that followed and still does—the poet and the writer of the incomparable words “...the tears of a child in the Klang River are also the tears of a child in the Mekong River. The tears of a mother in Kuala Terengganu are also the tears of a mother in deepest Africa.”
Nirmala Dutt from “The Making of an Artist as a
Social Commentator”, VWFA, 1998.
Karya Usman Awang “Anakku Sayang” merujuk kepada kanak-kanak setinggan yang aku kisahkan, dan pada tahun 1979, aku mengguna beberapa baris daripada puisi itu untuk menegaskan maksud imej kanak- kanak setinggan pada karya saring-sutera pertama aku bertajuk ”Anakku Sayang” (1979) yang didedikasikan kepada Abang Usman. Dari suatu segi, inspirasi langsung begini hampir merupai pengkaryaan kerjasama kecil. Abang Usman memang baik hati dan senang memberi sokongan. Beliau sendiri telah mengguna gambar karya aku tentang Vietnam pada kulit sebuah buku puisinya apabila memenangi Anugerah Penulis S.E.A. Beliau terus memberi inspirasi kepada aku sepanjang tahun-tahun berikutnya dan masih lagi—seorang penyair dan penulis kata-kata yang tiada tandingan “...tangis seorang anak di Sungai Kelang adalah juga tangis anak di Sungai Mekong. Air mata seorang ibu di Kuala Terengganu adalah juga air mata seorang ibu di belantara Afrika.”
Nirmala Dutt daripada “The Making of an Artist as
a Social Commentator”, VWFA, 1998.
Alongside the panel shown here describing the monthly income of a poor family of 10, there was apparently a matching panel highlighting the equivalent cost of a gala ticket to an international music performance—also RM200. Its details and location, however, are unknown.
Di samping panel yang memaparkan pendapatan bulanan keluarga miskin dengan 10 isi rumah, juga terdapat panel lain yang menunjukkan harga sekeping tiket untuk persembahan konsert antarabangsa—juga berharga RM200. Namun, butiran dan lokasinya tidak dapat dipastikan.
Nirmala Dutt news articles
Nirmala Dutt news articles
This missing 122 × 91 cm panel provides a text statement for Kenyataan (Statement) III, which indicates it was a project that involved several sites and documentations in Kuala Lumpur and Kelang, including Batu 4, Jalan Damansara. On a similar brown sticker backing, the panel displayed here, bearing the text “Third Series of Documentations” was most likely part of this project, along with other, now untraceable, components.
Nirmala’s documentation-based Statements of 1973 to 1979 were never documented in full, and it has been difficult to trace and identify certain elements. This presentation of the series in this exhibition relies on physical labels, existing images and published texts from Nirmala’s exhibition catalogues, as well as anecdotal accounts.
There appear to have been at least four “Statements” in all.
Panel 122 × 91 cm yang tidak dapat ditemui ini menyediakan pernyataan teks Kenyataan (Statement) III, yang menunjukkan ia berupa projek yang melibatkan beberapa tapak dan dokumentasi di Kuala Lumpur dan Kelang, termasuk Batu 4 Jalan Damansara. Pada pelekat coklat yang sama, kemungkinan besar panel yang dipaparkan di sini, yang mengandungi teks “Dokumentasi Siri Ketiga” adalah sebahagian daripada projek ini, bersama dengan komponen lain yang tidak dapat dikesan.
Kenyataan-kenyataan Nirmala yang berasaskan dokumentasi Nirmala dari 1973 hingga 1979 tidak pernah didokumenkan sepenuhnya, menyukarkan usaha mengesan dan mengenal pasti elemen tertentu. Pembentangan siri dalam pameran ini bergantung pada label fizikal, imej sedia ada dan teks yang diterbitkan daripada katalog pameran Nirmala, serta cerita cakapan.
Nampaknya terdapat sekurang-kurangnya empat “Kenyataan” semuanya.
[Quote]
“It has been said,‘Let the bamboo grow
in your heart before you paint it.’ But the
bamboo growing in the heart is painful.
It pushes and changes direction. It torments.
But finally, when it is fully grown,
you are ready to act.”
“Pernah disebutkan,‘Biarlah buluh tumbuh
dahulu di dalam hatimu sebelum kau melukisnya.’ Tetapi memang menyakitkan kalau buluh
tumbuh di dalam hati. Ia menolak-nolak dan berubah arah. Ia menyeksakan.
Tetapi akhirnya, apabila ia sudah besar,
kau akan bersedia bertindak.”
NIRMALA DUTT
Born in George Town, Penang, Nirmala Dutt (1941–2016) was a pioneering figure in Malaysian contemporary art. Committed to using art to awaken social conscience, her practice spanned documentary photography, painting, silkscreen, collage, and public art.
Nirmala’s early interest in art was encouraged by her uncle, and by her Methodist Girls’ School art teacher and her artist husband, Mr and MrsTay Hooi Keat. After moving to Kuala Lumpur in 1962, she worked at the Tourism Department. She began painting classes with Hoessein Enas, and then later with Ismail Zain in 1973.While she and her husband were living in the US between 1966 and 1972, she took art courses at the Corcoran School of Art, the Fogg Museum School of Art, and Boston College of Art. In 1975, she obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Art History and Psychology at Oxford Polytechnic, United Kingdom. She would return to The United Kingdom in the 90s as a Chevening scholar to pursue postgraduate studies in printmaking at University College London, and research at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Nirmala participated in group exhibitions in Malaysia as early as 1964. In 1973, she won a Major Award in the National Art Gallery’s Man and His World competition. Her first solo exhibition was The Condition of Being at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur in 1981, followed by The Making of an Artist as Social Commentator —A Review at Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur (1998), Tsunami: 2004–2005 at USM, Penang (2004),Valentine Willie Fine Art (2005), The London Years at Whiteways, Penang (2015), and a posthumous exhibition, Nirmala Dutt: Great Leap Forward at OUR ArtProjects, Kuala Lumpur, in 2017. Her work has also been exhibited internationally, including at the Fukuoka Art Museum in Japan, the Barbican Centre in London, the Singapore Art Museum, and the National Gallery of Fine Art in Jordan. On 5 December 2016, Nirmala Dutt passed away in Kuala Lumpur at the age of 75.
Through most of her career, she went by her married name Nirmala Shanmughalingam, and then Nirmala Dutt Shanmughalingam, but chose to use ‘Nirmala Dutt’ from the time of her solo exhibition The London Years in 2015.
NIRMALA DUTT
Nirmala Dutt (1941-2016) dilahirkan di GeorgeTown, Pulau Pinang. Beliau merupakan sosok terawal dalam seni kontemporari Malaysia. Dengan memberi tumpuan terhadap kesedaran sosial, karya-karyanya mengambil pelbagai bentuk seperti gambar, lukisan, sutera saring, kolaj, dan seni awam.
Nirmala mendapat dorongan awal daripada pakciknya serta guru seninya di Methodist Girls’ School dan suami guru tersebut, Tay Hooi Keat, juga seorang seniman. Setelah berpindah ke Kuala Lumpur pada tahun 1962, beliau bekerja di Jabatan Pelancongan. Beliau belajar daripada Hoessein Enas dan kemudiannya dengan Ismail Zain pada tahun 1973. Sewaktu beliau dan suami bermastautin di Amerika Syarikat dari tahun 1966 sehingga 1972, beliau mengikuti kursus seni di Corcoran School of Art, Fogg Museum School of Art, dan Boston College of Art. Pada tahun 1975, beliau memperoleh ijazah Sarjana Muda dalam bidang sejarah seni dan psikologi dari Oxford Polytechnic, United Kingdom. Beliau kembali ke United Kingdom pada tahun 90-an di bawah biasiswa Chevening untuk melanjutkan pelajaran pasca-sarjana dalam bidang seni cetak di University College London, dan melakukan penyelidikan di Goldsmiths, University of London.
Nirmala turut serta dalam pameran berkumpulan di Malaysia seawal tahun 1964. Pada tahun 1973, beliau memenangi Hadiah Utama dalam pertandingan anjuran Balai Seni Negara yang berjudul Manusia dan Alamnya. Pameran solonya yang pertama adalah pada tahun 1981 di bawah judul The Condition of Being di Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur, diikuti dengan The Making of an Artist as Social Commentator—A Review di Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur (1998), Tsunami: 2004- 2005 di USM, Pulau Pinang (2004), Valentine Willie Fine Art (2005), The LondonYears di Whiteways, Pulau Pinang (2015), dan sebuah pameran anumerta, Nirmala Dutt: Great Leap Forward di OUR ArtProjects, Kuala Lumpur, pada tahun 2017. Karya-karya beliau juga pernah dipamerkan di peringkat antarabangsa seperti di Fukuoka Art Museum di Japan, Barbican Centre di London, Singapore Art Museum, dan National Gallery of Fine Art di Jordan. Pada 5 Disember 2016, Nirmala Dutt menghembuskan nafas terakhir di Kuala Lumpur pada usia 75 tahun.
Sepanjang pengalamannya berkarya, nama yang lazim digunakan ialah Nirmala Shanmughalingam, kemudiannya Nirmala Dutt Shanmughalingam sebelum memilih ‘Nirmala Dutt’ bermula dengan pameran solo The London Years pada tahun 2015.
Beginnings and Ends
The small collection of works here do not express the ambition or follow the breadth of the more extensive series in this exhibition, but may offer a personal glimpse of the artist who conceived them.
The very earliest work in this exhibition is Flowers in a Nuclear Garden (1967). While Nirmala had already been studying and making art for some time, we find here an early example of her responding as an artist to a contemporary event, presaging themes that would reemerge in later works. In May 1967 a solar storm nearly set off a nuclear war by jamming US military radar systems at a crucial point in the Cold War. Nirmala’s unusual experiment in batik, using liquid rubber and spray paint, appears as an eerie post-apocalyptic scrawl, warning of the dangers posed by man to the living world.
Returning to Kuala Lumpur from a second stay in the United States in 1971, Nirmala spent time honing her painting skills under the tutelage of Ismail Zain. Two paintings from 1972 show a painter with a fine sense of colour and composition, working with gestural and hard-edge approaches to still life and landscape. We intuit an artist looking out her window, from her comfortable privilege on Federal Hill, and in the process discovering that the natural landscape surrounding her was steadily being eroded by development—the green of nature was quickly transforming into muddy reds [“Kehijauan digantikan dengan tanah merah”] as industrial pollution began to engulf nature, with nobody giving a care.
Looking back on this period, she tells Redza Piyadasa that, “After completing several of these works, I began to feel that producing all these pictures left a void within me. I was not finding adequate emotional or spiritual meaning in the activity. I decided to stop painting altogether.”
In 1973, she does make Man-Made Crisis: FAMINE (1973), what appears to be Nirmala’s earliest painting dealing with global affairs, which already begins the experimentation with media images in combination with painting that would come to characterise later series of works. Although the Ethiopian (Wollo) famine of 1972–1973 was widely blamed on drought, it was mainly a result of terrible government response, an impoverished social system, and a cover-up by the government.
That same year, she came down from her window into the landscape she had been surveying and began engaging with the crises stemming from rapid development through meeting communities affected and directly documenting sites of pollution and environmental destruction, and developing her ground-breaking series of Kenyataan through to 1979.
In the last twelve years of her life, Nirmala’s poor health made it near impossible to produce works. However, she attempted a final body of paintings in 2009, quieter and more subdued. She had found solace in God and her faith, achieving a zen-like understanding and acceptance of her own mortality. We come to a different collection of flowers. These flowers are often painted white on white, conveying a peacefulness after the tumult of Tsunami, but still with the occasional bursts of colour that reflect the brilliancy and strength that characterised Nirmala’s entire life.
Beginnings and Ends
Himpunan beberapa buah karya ini tidak memperlihatkan cita-cita dan keluasan yang mencirikan siri-siri yang lebih besar dalam pameran ini. Akan tetapi, ia mungkin menawarkan kita ruang untuk melihat peribadi si seniman ini dengan sekilas.
Karya terawal dalam pameran ini adalah Flowers in a Nuclear Garden (1967). Biarpun Nirmala sudah lama belajar dan berkarya, di sini kita menemui suatu contoh awal tentang bagaimana dia, sebagai seorang seniman, bertindak balas terhadap peristiwa semasa. Ia memberi gambaran kasar tentang tema-tema yang muncul dalam karya-karyanya yang terkemudian. Pada bulan Mei 1967, sebuah ribut solar yang merosakkan sistem radar tentera laut AS hampir mencetuskan perang nuklear. Nirmala menguji cuba batik dengan menggunakan cecair getah dan cat spray sehingga menghasilkan sebuah karya yang memaparkan kekalutan dunia pasca-apokalips yang menggerunkan.Ia merupakan amaran tentang bahaya yang dilakukan oleh manusia.
Setelah pulang ke Kuala Lumpur dari Amerika Syarikat pada tahun 1971, Nirmala meluangkan masa untuk belajar melukis dengan Ismail Zain. Dua buah lukisan yang dihasilkan pada tahun 1972 menampakkan kemampuan si pelukis bermain dengan warna dan komposisi yang halus. Dia bermain dengan pendekatan gerak isyarat (gestural) dan rupa tepat (hard-edge) terhadap lukisan alam benda (still-life) dan landskap. Kita melihat seniman sedang memandang ke luar jendela dari rumahnya di Bukit Persekutuan. Dalam masa yang sama, dia menyedari bahawa pemandangan alam sekitar yang mengelilinginya itu sedang diratah pembangunan. “Kehijauan digantikan dengan tanah merah” kerana pencemaran industri, dan tiada siapa peduli.
Ketika dia mengimbas kembali zaman itu, dia memberitahu Redza Piyadasa bahawa, “Selepas menghasilkan beberapa buah karya, saya mula menyedari bahawa melukis hanya menghadirkan kekosongan dalam diri saya. Saya tidak menemui makna emosi dan rohani daripadanya. Saya berhenti melukis.”
Pada tahun 1973, Nirmala menghasilkan Man-Made Crisis: FAMINE (1973), sebuah lukisan terawal tentang hal ehwal dunia yang mencampurkan gambar-gambar media dengan lukisan. Walaupun masalah kebuluran di Ethiopia pada tahun 1972–1973 adalah disebabkan kemarau, kerajaan turut gagal untuk bertindak dengan baik.
Pada tahun yang sama, beliau keluar dari rumah dan berhadapan langsung dengan masalah alam sekitar yang dia perhatikan selama ini. Dia bertemu dengan orang yang turut menerima kesan dan merakam kawasan-kawasan yang tercemar dan musnah. Dari situ dia menghasilkan Kenyataan sehingga tahun 1979.
Sepanjang dua belas tahun sebelum pemergiannya, tahap kesihatan Nirmala tidak mengizinkannya untuk berkarya. Walau bagaimanapun, dia tetap cuba menghasilkan beberapa lukisan terakhir pada tahun 2009, lebih senyap dan lembut. Dia tenang di samping Tuhan dan agamanya, dan menerima bahawa hidupnya adalah sementara. Kita melihat segugus bunga yang berbeza. Bunga- bunga ini dilukis dengan warna putih di atas permukaan putih yang mencerminkan ketenangan selepas haru-biru Tsunami. Namun, sekali-sekala, ia tetap ditandai dengan warna-warna yang mencerminkan kecemerlangan dan kekuatan hidup Nirmala.
Beginnings and Ends
The small collection of works here do not express the ambition or follow the breadth of the more extensive series in this exhibition, but may offer a personal glimpse of the artist who conceived them.
The very earliest work in this exhibition is Flowers in a Nuclear Garden (1967). While Nirmala had already been studying and making art for some time, we find here an early example of her responding as an artist to a contemporary event, presaging themes that would reemerge in later works. In May 1967 a solar storm nearly set off a nuclear war by jamming US military radar systems at a crucial point in the Cold War. Nirmala’s unusual experiment in batik, using liquid rubber and spray paint, appears as an eerie post-apocalyptic scrawl, warning of the dangers posed by man to the living world.
Returning to Kuala Lumpur from a second stay in the United States in 1971, Nirmala spent time honing her painting skills under the tutelage of Ismail Zain. Two paintings from 1972 show a painter with a fine sense of colour and composition, working with gestural and hard-edge approaches to still life and landscape. We intuit an artist looking out her window, from her comfortable privilege on Federal Hill, and in the process discovering that the natural landscape surrounding her was steadily being eroded by development—the green of nature was quickly transforming into muddy reds [“Kehijauan digantikan dengan tanah merah”] as industrial pollution began to engulf nature, with nobody giving a care.
Looking back on this period, she tells Redza Piyadasa that, “After completing several of these works, I began to feel that producing all these pictures left a void within me. I was not finding adequate emotional or spiritual meaning in the activity. I decided to stop painting altogether.”
In 1973, she does make Man-Made Crisis: FAMINE (1973), what appears to be Nirmala’s earliest painting dealing with global affairs, which already begins the experimentation with media images in combination with painting that would come to characterise later series of works. Although the Ethiopian (Wollo) famine of 1972–1973 was widely blamed on drought, it was mainly a result of terrible government response, an impoverished social system, and a cover-up by the government.
That same year, she came down from her window into the landscape she had been surveying and began engaging with the crises stemming from rapid development through meeting communities affected and directly documenting sites of pollution and environmental destruction, and developing her ground-breaking series of Kenyataan through to 1979.
In the last twelve years of her life, Nirmala’s poor health made it near impossible to produce works. However, she attempted a final body of paintings in 2009, quieter and more subdued. She had found solace in God and her faith, achieving a zen-like understanding and acceptance of her own mortality. We come to a different collection of flowers. These flowers are often painted white on white, conveying a peacefulness after the tumult of Tsunami, but still with the occasional bursts of colour that reflect the brilliancy and strength that characterised Nirmala’s entire life.
Beginnings and Ends
Himpunan beberapa buah karya ini tidak memperlihatkan cita-cita dan keluasan yang mencirikan siri-siri yang lebih besar dalam pameran ini. Akan tetapi, ia mungkin menawarkan kita ruang untuk melihat peribadi si seniman ini dengan sekilas.
Karya terawal dalam pameran ini adalah Flowers in a Nuclear Garden (1967). Biarpun Nirmala sudah lama belajar dan berkarya, di sini kita menemui suatu contoh awal tentang bagaimana dia, sebagai seorang seniman, bertindak balas terhadap peristiwa semasa. Ia memberi gambaran kasar tentang tema-tema yang muncul dalam karya-karyanya yang terkemudian. Pada bulan Mei 1967, sebuah ribut solar yang merosakkan sistem radar tentera laut AS hampir mencetuskan perang nuklear. Nirmala menguji cuba batik dengan menggunakan cecair getah dan cat spray sehingga menghasilkan sebuah karya yang memaparkan kekalutan dunia pasca-apokalips yang menggerunkan.Ia merupakan amaran tentang bahaya yang dilakukan oleh manusia.
Setelah pulang ke Kuala Lumpur dari Amerika Syarikat pada tahun 1971, Nirmala meluangkan masa untuk belajar melukis dengan Ismail Zain. Dua buah lukisan yang dihasilkan pada tahun 1972 menampakkan kemampuan si pelukis bermain dengan warna dan komposisi yang halus. Dia bermain dengan pendekatan gerak isyarat (gestural) dan rupa tepat (hard-edge) terhadap lukisan alam benda (still-life) dan landskap. Kita melihat seniman sedang memandang ke luar jendela dari rumahnya di Bukit Persekutuan. Dalam masa yang sama, dia menyedari bahawa pemandangan alam sekitar yang mengelilinginya itu sedang diratah pembangunan. “Kehijauan digantikan dengan tanah merah” kerana pencemaran industri, dan tiada siapa peduli.
Ketika dia mengimbas kembali zaman itu, dia memberitahu Redza Piyadasa bahawa, “Selepas menghasilkan beberapa buah karya, saya mula menyedari bahawa melukis hanya menghadirkan kekosongan dalam diri saya. Saya tidak menemui makna emosi dan rohani daripadanya. Saya berhenti melukis.”
Pada tahun 1973, Nirmala menghasilkan Man-Made Crisis: FAMINE (1973), sebuah lukisan terawal tentang hal ehwal dunia yang mencampurkan gambar-gambar media dengan lukisan. Walaupun masalah kebuluran di Ethiopia pada tahun 1972–1973 adalah disebabkan kemarau, kerajaan turut gagal untuk bertindak dengan baik.
Pada tahun yang sama, beliau keluar dari rumah dan berhadapan langsung dengan masalah alam sekitar yang dia perhatikan selama ini. Dia bertemu dengan orang yang turut menerima kesan dan merakam kawasan-kawasan yang tercemar dan musnah. Dari situ dia menghasilkan Kenyataan sehingga tahun 1979.
Sepanjang dua belas tahun sebelum pemergiannya, tahap kesihatan Nirmala tidak mengizinkannya untuk berkarya. Walau bagaimanapun, dia tetap cuba menghasilkan beberapa lukisan terakhir pada tahun 2009, lebih senyap dan lembut. Dia tenang di samping Tuhan dan agamanya, dan menerima bahawa hidupnya adalah sementara. Kita melihat segugus bunga yang berbeza. Bunga-bunga ini dilukis dengan warna putih di atas permukaan putih yang mencerminkan ketenangan selepas haru-biru Tsunami. Namun, sekali-sekala, ia tetap ditandai dengan warna warna yang mencerminkan kecemerlangan dan kekuatan hidup Nirmala.
Virgin Spring’ Today & SITI
In 2002, having felt unable to paint for some time due to illness, Nirmala was triggered by a deeply disturbing spate of local newspaper reports of child rape. Gathering found materials at hand, she made a group of makeshift installations, which she exhibited in the intimacy of her home studio as ’Virgin Spring’ Today and SITI: An Installation. This strange and awkward assemblage was an attempt to probe responses to and readings of sexual violence, and what these reflect of human society. It drew from her own personal trauma, as well as Ingmar Bergman’s film The Virgin Spring, a portrayal of human degradation which addresses feelings of guilt, vengeance, the questioning of religious faith and sexual innocence. As a concluding statement, however, she made the mail art brochure, SITI, which very simply showed seven photographs of girls smiling from her early Kenyataan series.
“I feel, I absorb, I empathise. People say ‘Relax’...
I cannot ‘relax’ living with such horrors around me,
I cannot look the other way, turn my back on misery, especially when the victims are little innocents, babies, children, teenage girls, the poor and struggling and suffering...
“I want my art to spring ‘from my soul with elemental force’ in all my work though I suffer along with it. Graham Greene once said,
‘Self-expression is a hard and selfish thing that can feed on everything, even upon itself’.”
(From “Feeling”, Nirmala Dutt’s introduction to ‘Virgin Spring’ Today and SITI: An Installation)
Virgin Spring’ Today & SITI
Pada tahun 2002, ketika beliau berasa tidak mampu melukis kerana sakit, Nirmala disentak dengan
beberapa laporan akhbar tentang kes rogol kanak-kanak. Dengan mengumpulkan apa sahaja barang yang ditemuinya, dia menghasilkan sebaris karya instalasi dengan judul ‘Virgin Spring’ Today and SITI: An Installation yang dipamerkan di ruang studio rumahnya sendiri. Karya yang pelik dan canggung ini cuba untuk mendalami tindak balas dan interpretasi terhadap keganasan seksual, dan bagaimana hal ini tercermin dalam masyarakat manusia. Karya ini datang daripada luka yang dialaminya sendiri, serta daripada filem Ingmar Bergman, The Virgin Spring. Filem itu memaparkan masalah keruntuhan manusia yang mengetengahkan perasaan sedih dan dendam,
serta pertanyaan tentang iman dan dara. Walau bagaimanapun, Nirmala menghasilkan risalah surat berseni (mail art) iaitu SITI, sebuah pemaparan tujuh keping gambar gadis sedang tersenyum yang diambil daripada siri Kenyataan yang lebih awal.
“Aku rasa, aku selami, aku berempati. Orang suruh ‘bertenang’... Aku tidak boleh ‘bertenang’ selagi
kengerian di sekeliling aku, aku tidak boleh berpaling dari kesengsaraan, apa lagi kalau mangsanya adalah anak-anak kecil yang tidak bersalah, bayi, remaja perempuan, fakir dan papa, mereka yang terkial-kial dan merana...
“Aku ingin seni aku berputik ‘daripada jiwa aku dengan segala kekuatan’ dalam semua karyaku, biarpun aku terpaksa ikut merana. Graham Greene pernah berkata, ‘Ekspresi diri adalah perkara yang sulit dan sombong, yang boleh memakan apa sahaja termasuk diri sendiri”.
(Daripada “Feeling”, pengenalan oleh Nirmala Dutt kepada ‘Virgin Spring’ Today and SITI: An Installation)
Virgin Spring’ Today & SITI
In 2002, having felt unable to paint for some time due to illness, Nirmala was triggered by a deeply disturbing spate of local newspaper reports of child rape. Gathering found materials at hand, she made a group of makeshift installations, which she exhibited in the intimacy of her home studio as ’Virgin Spring’ Today and SITI: An Installation. This strange and awkward assemblage was an attempt to probe responses to and readings of sexual violence, and what these reflect of human society. It drew from her own personal trauma, as well as Ingmar Bergman’s film The Virgin Spring, a portrayal of human degradation which addresses feelings of guilt, vengeance, the questioning of religious faith and sexual innocence. As a concluding statement, however, she made the mail art brochure, SITI, which very simply showed seven photographs of girls smiling from her early Kenyataan series.
“I feel, I absorb, I empathise. People say ‘Relax’...
I cannot ‘relax’ living with such horrors around me,
I cannot look the other way, turn my back on
misery, especially when the victims are little
innocents, babies, children, teenage girls, the poor
and struggling and suffering...
“I want my art to spring ‘from my soul with
elemental force’ in all my work though I suffer
along with it. Graham Greene once said,
‘Self-expression is a hard and selfish thing that
can feed on everything, even upon itself’.”
(From “Feeling”, Nirmala Dutt’s introduction to ‘Virgin Spring’ Today and SITI: An Installation)
Virgin Spring’ Today & SITI
Pada tahun 2002, ketika beliau berasa tidak mampu melukis kerana sakit, Nirmala disentak dengan beberapa laporan akhbar tentang kes rogol kanak-kanak. Dengan mengumpulkan apa sahaja barang yang ditemuinya, dia menghasilkan sebaris karya instalasi dengan judul ‘Virgin Spring’ Today and SITI: An Installation yang dipamerkan di ruang studio rumahnya sendiri. Karya yang pelik dan canggung ini cuba untuk mendalami tindak balas dan interpretasi terhadap keganasan seksual, dan bagaimana hal ini tercermin dalam masyarakat manusia. Karya ini datang daripada luka yang dialaminya sendiri, serta daripada filem Ingmar Bergman, The Virgin Spring. Filem itu memaparkan masalah keruntuhan manusia yang mengetengahkan perasaan sedih dan dendam, serta pertanyaan tentang iman dan dara. Walau bagaimanapun, Nirmala menghasilkan risalah surat berseni (mail art) iaitu SITI, sebuah pemaparan tujuh keping gambar gadis sedang tersenyum yang diambil daripada siri Kenyataan yang lebih awal.
“Aku rasa, aku selami, aku berempati. Orang suruh
‘bertenang’... Aku tidak boleh ‘bertenang’ selagi
kengerian di sekeliling aku, aku tidak boleh
berpaling dari kesengsaraan, apa lagi kalau
mangsanya adalah anak-anak kecil yang tidak
bersalah, bayi, remaja perempuan, fakir dan papa,
mereka yang terkial-kial dan merana...
“Aku ingin seni aku berputik ‘daripada jiwa aku
dengan segala kekuatan’ dalam semua karyaku,
biarpun aku terpaksa ikut merana. Graham Greene
pernah berkata, ‘Ekspresi diri adalah perkara yang
sulit dan sombong, yang boleh memakan apa
sahaja termasuk diri sendiri”.
(Daripada “Feeling”, pengenalan oleh Nirmala Dutt kepada ‘Virgin Spring’ Today and SITI: An Installation)
Anak Asia
In the second half of the twentieth century, South East Asia was a hotbed of Cold War tensions, with many of the countries in the region emerging out of their colonial conditions only to become pawns in the power struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union.
The Vietnam War raged on for 20 years, finally coming to an end in 1975, but shortly thereafter the Khmer Rouge ravaged Cambodia until 1979, killing nearly a quarter of its population. In nearby Laos, a civil war between the Communist insurgents and the Royal Laos government lasted for 16 years, with both sides receiving funding from either the United States or the Soviet Union.
Nirmala’s Anak Asia series was inspired by Malaysian poet Baha Zain’s poem of the same name about the trauma inflicted on children living in this region. Like the poem, her works contend that the ones who pay the highest price for conflict are the most innocent of all, the children who grow up “di bawah bayang-bayang sepatu perang” (in the shadow of war).
In Nirmala’s works about the atrocities in Vietnam and Cambodia, images of weeping mothers and depictions of children as refugees and child soldiers, are repeated to underscore the depths of their suffering. Nirmala’s dramatic brushstrokes convey the emotional depths of her outrage at man’s inhumanity to man, and the violence and destruction of war particularly on women and children.
Anak Asia
Pada separuh kedua abad ke-20, Asia Tenggara menjadi sarang bagi Perang Dingin. Banyak negara di rantau ini yang baru terlepas daripada penjajahan akhirnya menjadi bidak dalam perebutan kuasa antara Amerika Syarikat dan Kesatuan Soviet.
Perang Vietnam yang berlangsung selama 20 tahun berakhir pada tahun 1975. Namun, tidak lama kemudian, Khmer Rouge meratah Kemboja sehingga tahun 1979, dan hampir separuh orang Kemboja terkorban. Di Laos, perang sivil antara pengganas Komunis dan pemerintah Royal Laos berlangsung selama 16 tahun. Kedua-dua pihak mengambil dana daripada Amerika Syarikat dan Kesatuan Soviet.
Siri karya Anak Asia ini mendapat ilham daripada puisi Baha Zain dengan judul yang sama. Puisi tersebut berbicara tentang luka yang terpaksa dihadapi oleh kanak-kanak yang tinggal di wilayah ini. Seperti puisi tersebut, karya ini menegaskan bahawa orang yang paling teraniaya dalam konflik ini adalah mereka yang tidak bersalah, kanak-kanak yang hidup “di bawah bayang-bayang sepatu perang”.
Dalam karya Nirmala tentang keganasan di Vietnam dan Kemboja, gambaran para ibu yang sedang bersedih dan kanak-kanak menjadi pelarian dan askar diulang-ulang untuk memberi penekanan terhadap tahap kesengsaraan mereka. Teknik berusan Nirmala mencerminkan kemarahannya terhadap sifat manusia yang tidak berperikemanusiaan dan keganasan serta kemusnahan yang dideritai oleh golongan wanita dan kanak-kanak akibat perang.
Bina Malaysia!
“...I share many an individual's aversion to slogans and jingles. That was in a sense the genesis of my Pollution Piece (Statement I), that irritant (Bina Malaysia!) which was manifesting itself in uncontrolled development and at the cost of destruction of the environment and the eco-system. There was no government body to monitor the situation caused by indiscriminate development – no ministry of environment, not even a department of environment...”
Over three decades, from the time of Kenyataan (Statements) in the 1970s, Nirmala addressed issues facing specific communities in specific locations in Malaysia. Her concern was for people, the environment they inhabited, the conditions and challenges they faced, which she understood also as part of a broader and longer story of a country’s social and physical “progress”. Her works consistently highlight the negative impacts of urbanisation and infrastructural “development” projects such as environmental destruction and the disenfranchisement and displacement of communities.
The sites and situations we encounter will be surprisingly familiar to many, especially those living in the Klang Valley. The squatter settlements she used to visit, bringing food and necessities to the families have, for some time now, been home to the comfortable middle classes—in Bangsar, Subang Jaya, and Ampang Hilir, site of the Kampong Polo settlement, just a short distance away from this gallery. In 1981, newspaper coverage on the forcible eviction of squatters and demolition of their houses in Kampong Polo (so-called because it bordered the Royal Polo Club in Kuala Lumpur) by City Hall drew Nirmala to visit the settlement and document this community’s plight.
Bina Malaysia!
“...Seperti yang lain, saya juga tidak gemar dengan slogan. Kerana itu saya menghasilkan karya Pollution Piece (Statement I), kegelian (Bina Malaysia!) yang menyerlahkan dirinya dalam pembangunan tidak terancang sehingga menghancurkan alam sekitar dan ekosistem. Tidak ada badan kerajaan yang memantau keadaan, tiada kementerian alam sekitar, malah jabatan alam sekitar pun tiada...”
Sejak terbitnya karya Kenyataan pada tahun 1970-an, sudah lebih tiga dekad Nirmala mengangkat masalah yang dihadapi oleh kumpulan-kumpulan masyarakat di pelbagai tempat di Malaysia. Dia mengambil berat terhadap orang dan tempat tinggal mereka serta keadaan dan cabaran yang mereka hadapi. Baginya, perkara ini sangat berkait rapat dengan riwayat yang lebih luas dan panjang tentang “kemajuan” sosial dan fizikal sesebuah negara. Karya-karyanya sentiasa mengetengahkan tentang kesan-kesan perbandaran dan projek-projek “pembangunan” infrastruktur seperti pemusnahan alam sekitar dan pemindahan semula masyarakat.
Tempat-tempat dan babak-babak yang terpapar dalam karya ini tidak asing buat kita, apa lagi untuk orang Lembah Klang. Kawasan perumahan yang pernah dia lawati untuk berkongsi makanan dengan keluarga-keluarga di sana, kini menjadi tempat orang kelas menengah—Bangsar, Subang Jaya, dan Ampang Hilir, tapak penempatan Kampong Polo yang tidak jauh dari galeri ini. Pada tahun 1981, setelah membaca liputan akhbar tentang pengusiran dan pemusnahan penempatan mereka di Kampong Polo (diberi nama sedemikian kerana ia bersempadan dengan Royal Polo Club di Kuala Lumpur) oleh Majlis Perbandaran, Nirmala tergerak untuk berkunjung dan merakam pahit getir orang di sana.
Bina Malaysia!
“...I share many an individual's aversion to slogans and jingles. That was in a sense the genesis of my Pollution Piece (Statement I), that irritant (Bina Malaysia!) which was manifesting itself in uncontrolled development and at the cost of destruction of the environment and the eco-system. There was no government body to monitor the situation caused by indiscriminate development – no ministry of environment, not even a department of environment...”
Over three decades, from the time of Kenyataan (Statements) in the 1970s, Nirmala addressed issues facing specific communities in specific locations in Malaysia. Her concern was for people, the environment they inhabited, the conditions and challenges they faced, which she understood also as part of a broader and longer story of a country’s social and physical “progress”. Her works consistently highlight the negative impacts of urbanisation and infrastructural “development” projects such as environmental destruction and the disenfranchisement and displacement of communities.
The sites and situations we encounter will be surprisingly familiar to many, especially those living in the Klang Valley. The squatter settlements she used to visit, bringing food and necessities to the families have, for some time now, been home to the comfortable middle classes—in Bangsar, Subang Jaya, and Ampang Hilir, site of the Kampong Polo settlement, just a short distance away from this gallery. In 1981, newspaper coverage on the forcible eviction of squatters and demolition of their houses in Kampong Polo (so-called because it bordered the Royal Polo Club in Kuala Lumpur) by City Hall drew Nirmala to visit the settlement and document this community’s plight.
Bina Malaysia!
“...Seperti yang lain, saya juga tidak gemar dengan slogan. Kerana itu saya menghasilkan karya Pollution Piece (Statement I), kegelian (Bina Malaysia!) yang menyerlahkan dirinya dalam pembangunan tidak terancang sehingga menghancurkan alam sekitar dan ekosistem. Tidak ada badan kerajaan yang memantau keadaan, tiada kementerian alam sekitar, malah jabatan alam sekitar pun tiada...”
Sejak terbitnya karya Kenyataan pada tahun 1970-an, sudah lebih tiga dekad Nirmala mengangkat masalah yang dihadapi oleh kumpulan-kumpulan masyarakat di pelbagai tempat di Malaysia. Dia mengambil berat terhadap orang dan tempat tinggal mereka serta keadaan dan cabaran yang mereka hadapi. Baginya, perkara ini sangat berkait rapat dengan riwayat yang lebih luas dan panjang tentang “kemajuan” sosial dan fizikal sesebuah negara. Karya-karyanya sentiasa mengetengahkan tentang kesan-kesan perbandaran dan projek-projek “pembangunan” infrastruktur seperti pemusnahan alam sekitar dan pemindahan semula masyarakat.
Tempat-tempat dan babak-babak yang terpapar dalam karya ini tidak asing buat kita, apa lagi untuk orang Lembah Klang. Kawasan perumahan yang pernah dia lawati untuk berkongsi makanan dengan keluarga-keluarga di sana, kini menjadi tempat orang kelas menengah—Bangsar, Subang Jaya, dan Ampang Hilir, tapak penempatan Kampong Polo yang tidak jauh dari galeri ini. Pada tahun 1981, setelah membaca liputan akhbar tentang pengusiran dan pemusnahan penempatan mereka di Kampong Polo (diberi nama sedemikian kerana ia bersempadan dengan Royal Polo Club di Kuala Lumpur) oleh Majlis Perbandaran, Nirmala tergerak untuk berkunjung dan merakam pahit getir orang di sana.
Global Theatre
The Cold War struggle was not just being fought within the West. It also manifested as proxy wars that flared up in the ex-colonial territories, as various ideological parties struggled against each other to fill the gap left by the ex-colonial powers.
The dissolution of old empires and the shifting nature of Cold War associations also led to more instances of civil warfare. Political instability caused factional and ethnic warfare such as in the Bosnian war of 1992–1995 between the Bosnians and Serbs, following the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the Beirut bombings of 1983 during the Lebanese Civil War, and the protracted South African Border War from 1966–1990. Meanwhile, the civil war in Ethiopia led to a refugee crisis and famine.
Nirmala’s recognition of man’s responsibility in tragedies such as famine extends to her understanding of the nuances of global politics. Paintings such as Friends in Need (1986) and Save the Seed That Will Save the Black People (1986) identify Britain’s role in the power struggles happening in their ex-colonies, and the United States’ introduction of a new form of imperialism enacted via proxy wars, covert operations, and funding groups amenable to American interests in far-flung regions. This new form of warfare involving many layers of double-dealings and tactical manoeuvres is reflected in Nirmala’s use of imagery from the wayang kulit (shadow puppet theatre) tradition, suggesting shadowy figures of puppet masters pulling the strings, behind the scenes.
Global Theatre
Perang Dingin tidak hanya terjadi di Barat. Ia kemudiannya merebak menjadi perang proksi yang berlangsung di negara-negara bekas tanah jajahan dengan pelbagai kumpulan politik bersaing untuk mendapatkan kuasa.
Kehancuran empayar lama dan sifat pakatan Perang Dingin yang sering berubah juga akhirnya menjurus kepada perang sivil. Ketidakstabilan politik membawa kepada perang kelompok dan etnik seperti perang Bosnia 1992–1995 antara orang Bosnia dan Serbia, selepas bubarnya Yugoslavia. Pengeboman Beirut 1983 turut berlaku semasa Perang Sivil Lubnan. Begitu juga dengan Perang Sempadan Afrika Selatan 1966–1990. Sementara itu, perang sivil di Ethiopia menyebabkan berlakunya krisis pelarian dan kebuluran.
Kesedaran Nirmala bahawa manusialah yang menyebabkan tragedi seperti kebuluran turut terlihat dalam kefahamannya tentang politik dunia. Lukisan-lukisan seperti Friends in Need (1986) dan Save the Seed That Will Save the Black People (1986) memaparkan peranan Britain dalam perebutan kuasa yang berlaku di negara-negara bekas tanah jajahan serta pengenalan Amerika Syarikat terhadap bentuk baharu penjajahan seperti melalui perang proksi, operasi rahsia, dan pendanaan kumpulan-kumpulan yang membawa kepentingan Amerika Syarikat. Perang dalam bentuk baharu ini mengandungi pelbagai lapisan dan tercermin dalam citra-citra daripada tradisi wayang kulit yang digunakan Nirmala. Di belakang, dalang sedang menarik-narik tali patung.
Great Leap Forward
Nirmala made this series of works in response to the immense economic, social, and political changes happening in the country in the 1990s as a result of the industrialisation policies of Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s then prime minister.
The series’ title is a reference to Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong’s economic and social policy of the same name which aimed to transform China from an agrarian society to an industrialised communist nation in a short period of time, leading to catastrophic results.
Incorporated in the works are texts and images referencing mega development projects of that time from the gleaming Petronas Twin Towers, a symbol of 90s capitalism and unrelenting pursuit of development at all costs, to the Bakun Hydroelectric Dam project which resulted in environmental destruction and the displacement of indigenous communities in Sarawak.
The use of the hard-edged triangle shape in the works is possibly a reference to the Kayon or Gunungan puppet used in wayang kulit performances. In Javanese cosmology, this symbolises the cosmos, the beginning and the end of everything, a reminder perhaps of the impermanence of our mortal existence on earth. We see that energy mirrored in the dramatic brushstrokes against the monochromatic black and white of the works.
Great Leap Forward
Nirmala menghasilkan siri karya ini sebagai tindak balas terhadap perubahan ekonomi, sosial, dan politik yang berlaku di negara ini pada tahun 1990-an akibat dasar-dasar perindustrian yang digagaskan oleh Perdana Menteri ketika itu, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.
Judul siri ini merujuk kepada dasar ekonomi dan sosial yang dianjurkan oleh pemimpin Komunis China, Mao Zedong. Dengan judul yang sama, dasar ini berhasrat untuk mengubah China daripada sebuah masyarakat pertanian menjadi sebuah masyarakat perindustrian dalam waktu singkat sehingga akhirnya membawa kepada bencana.
Karya-karya ini memaparkan teks dan gambar-gambar yang merujuk kepada projek pembangunan mega, dari Menara Berkembar Petronas yang merupakan lambang kepada semangat kapitalisme dan kegilaan mengejar pembangunan pada tahun 90-an, hingga projek Empangan Hidroelektrik Bakun yang mengakibatkan kemusnahan alam sekitar dan pemindahan orang asli di Sarawak.
Pemaparan bentuk segi tiga berupa tepat dalam karya ini barangkali merujuk kepada patung Kayon atau Gunungan yang terdapat dalam persembahan wayang kulit. Dalam kosmologi Jawa, patung ini melambangkan kosmos, permulaan dan pengakhiran bagi segala sesuatu, suatu peringatan tentang kesementaraan hidup kita di dunia. Kita menyaksikan tenaga tersebut tercermin melalui berusan cat di atas permukaan hitam putih monokromatik dalam karya-karya ini.
Kenyataan
In 1973, the National Art Gallery of Malaysia held a competition entitled Man and His World to encourage artists to move from picture-making to more ideas-based work. Nirmala who had been photographing and documenting the environmental pollution of a stream off Jalan Damansara, submitted a conceptual work addressing the increasing environmental destruction as a result of indiscriminate development in the country. The work, Kenyataan (Statement) I, comprised photographs of pollution, a compilation of newspaper and academic articles, and a written statement urging people to take action against environmental damage before it was too late, was presented almost like evidentiary material. Actual rubbish and industrial waste from the site itself off Jalan Damansara was included as part of the work. For Kenyataan I, Nirmala was jointly awarded the Grand Prize, sharing it with another recipient, artist Sulaiman Esa.
Nirmala would go on to make more work in the Kenyataan (Statements) series, moving from photographing the environmental pollution to documenting the people—specifically children—living in these areas in Kuala Lumpur. As she explained, “These are the people who are the first to suffer the effects of pollution because they live in and around the affected areas. They are often the first to feel any misfortune, hardship or suffering—be it flood, fire, inflation, recession, civil disturbance, dengue or cholera endemic.” In Kenyataan (Statement) III, she photographed the same group of children from a squatter settlement at Batu 4, Jalan Damansara, over a four-year period, documenting the poor living conditions of these children in an area which was fast developing into plush neighbourhoods.
Kenyataan
Pada tahun 1973, Balai Seni Negara Malaysia menganjurkan sebuah pertandingan yang berjudul Man and His World untuk menggalakkan para seniman berganjak daripada kerja penghasilan gambar kepada kerja yang lebih berdasarkan idea. Nirmala yang pada ketika itu giat mengambil gambar pencemaran sungai di Jalan Damansara, menghantar sebuah karya konseptual yang mengangkat masalah kemusnahan alam sekitar akibat pembangunan melampau. Karya tersebut, Kenyataan (Statement) I terdiri daripada gambar-gambar pencemaran, himpunan surat khabar dan majalah ilmiah, dan kenyataan bertulis yang mengajak orang untuk bertindak. Kesemuanya dipamerkan seperti barang bukti. Sampah-sampah sebenar yang diambil dari kawasan perindustrian di Jalan Damansara turut dipamerkan. Untuk karya Kenyataan I, Nirmala berkongsi hadiah utama dengan Sulaiman Esa.
Nirmala kemudiannya terus menghasilkan siri karya Kenyataan. Dia beralih daripada mengambil gambar pencemaran alam kepada mengambil gambar orang—khususnya kanak-kanak—yang tinggal di kawasan-kawasan seperti ini di Kuala Lumpur. Seperti yang dijelaskan beliau, “Merekalah orang yang pertama mengalami kesan pencemaran akibat menduduki kawasan yang terjejas. Lazimnya merekalah orang yang pertama merasai azab malang, susah atau derita—sama ada banjir, kebakaran, inflasi, kemelesetan ekonomi, kekacauan awam, wabak denggi atau taun.” Dalam Kenyataan III, selama empat tahun dia mengambil gambar sekumpulan kanak-kanak dari sebuah kawasan setinggan di Batu 4, Jalan Damansara, untuk merakam keadaan hidup mereka di kawasan yang kini menjadi tempat orang kaya-kaya.
London’s Homeless
This series was produced during Nirmala’s time in the United Kingdom in the 90s, when she pursued postgraduate studies in printmaking at University College London and research at Goldsmiths, University of London. She continued to be preoccupied with the idea of suffering, and the most notable works from her London years are her etchings of the city’s homeless population.
This section of the exhibition is a neat bookend to the Kenyataan works of Nirmala's early career, shown on the opposite end of the gallery. Both series are notable for being the only works in her career that saw the artist engaging her subject matter directly and observing their conditions for herself, as opposed to hearing about them through the news. The two groups were linked in Nirmala’s mind as vulnerable, innocent beings who were victims of forces beyond their control.
In the same way that her Kenyataan photographs captured the particularities of each child, Nirmala’s etchings picked out the individual details of each homeless person—their particularities in dress, stance, and personal belongings.
Her etching style dispensed with the detail of old Master printmakers, such as Rembrandt and Goya (two influences of hers), and embraced a more impressionistic style in depicting the dark, shrouded figures of London’s homeless. Their figures are twisted and pinched, with Nirmala’s rough and shaky lines expressing the transiency of their lives, as well as suggesting the pain and fatigue that must have been etched on their faces.
London’s Homeless
Siri karya ini dihasilkan ketika Nirmala masih menyiapkan pengajian pasca-sarjananya di United Kingdom dalam bidang seni cetak di University College London dan Goldsmiths, University of London, pada tahun 90-an. Dia terus tersangkut dengan idea tentang kesengsaraan, dan karya beliau yang paling terkenal semasa di London ialah sebuah karya goresan tentang gelandangan di kota tersebut.
Bahagian ini merupakan pelengkap bagi karya-karya Kenyataan yang dipamerkan di bahagian bertentangan. Kedua-dua siri ini merupakan satu-satunya karya beliau yang memperlihatkan beliau terlibat dan memerhati sendiri subjek seninya, bukan hanya melalui berita. Bagi Nirmala, kedua-dua kelompok masyarakat ini adalah rentan dan tidak bersalah yang menjadi mangsa kepada kuasa di luar diri mereka.
Seperti gambar-gambar dalam siri Kenyataan yang merakam keunikan setiap kanak-kanak yang dia temui, karya goresan ini turut mengetengahkan perincian yang dimiliki oleh setiap orang yang tidak berumah—pakaian, cara duduk, dan barangan peribadi.
Gaya goresan Nirmala dipengaruhi oleh gaya Rembrandt dan Goya (dua orang paling berpengaruh terhadap Nirmala). Karyanya memiliki gaya yang lebih impresionistik khususnya dalam melakar figura-figura yang gelap dan terlindung. Sosok tubuh mereka dikerenyot dengan sentuhan kasar agar mencerminkan kesementaraan, keletihan, dan kesengsaraan yang digores pada wajah mereka.
Mah Meri Landscapes
On Carey Island in Selangor, the coastal-based Mah Meri community has had their living domain steadily encroached upon by oil palm plantation owners and companies since the end of the 19th century. In 2007, a community publication states, “Today there are only a handful of wild places on the entire island. Our rivers are hemmed in or choked off by bunds while many creeks are polluted with agriculture run-offs; our island’s exposed coastline scarred from severe coastal erosion and the remaining bakau forests threatened.”*
Nirmala’s Mah Meri Landscape II powerfully describes this depletion of natural habitat in a grid of rows of repeated scenes of a landscape being stripped bare. Mah Meri Landscape, meanwhile, describes a reduction and commodification of cultural identity to a catalogue of souvenirs, the Mah Meri of Carey Island having, for decades, been a poster community of “indigenous cultures” for the Malaysian tourism industry.
* Reita Rahim, ed., Chita’ Hae: Culture, Crafts and Customs of the Hma’ Meri in Kampung Sungai Bumbon, Pulau Carey, Subang Jaya: Center for Orang Asli Concerns 2007
Mah Meri Landscapes
Sejak abad ke-19 lagi masyarakat Mah Meri di Pulau Carey, Selangor, berhadapan dengan syarikat-syarikat minyak sawit yang meratah tanah mereka. Pada tahun 2007, sebuah penerbitan tempatan menyebutkan, “Pada hari ini, hanya tinggal sedikit sahaja hutan liar di pulau ini. Sungai-sungai kita disekat dengan benteng dan banyak tali air dicemari dengan bahan buangan pertanian; pantai di pulau kita sudah digigit air, hutan bakau semakin terancam.”*
Karya Mah Meri Landscape II memaparkan masalah pemusnahan habitat alam semula jadi akibat pembangunan, sementara Mah Meri Landscape memaparkan tentang identiti budaya yang hilang, hanya menjadi cenderamata. Sejak berdekad-dekad, orang Mah Meri di Pulau Carey hanya menjadi poster yang mencerminkan “kebudayaan pribumi” untuk industri pelancongan Malaysia.
* Reita Rahim, ed., Chita’ Hae: Culture, Crafts and Customs of the Hma’ Meri in Kampung Sungai Bumbon, Pulau Carey, Subang Jaya: Center for Orang Asli Concerns 2007
Membalak Jangan Seberangan, Nanti Ditimpa Balak
By the late 1980s, intensive legal and illegal logging practices over the past decade in Sarawak, once home to one of Asia’s most biologically diverse tropical rainforests, had led to runaway deforestation. From early 1987, members of the Penan indigenous community were building barricades to stop further destruction of the forests, site and source of their way of life and survival. Nirmala’s series Membalak Jangan Seberangan, Nanti Ditimpa Balak (1989–1990), its title taken from the Malay proverb, presents a form of warning against indiscriminate logging, the poster-like paintings adapting the patterns of Penan weaving with silkscreened images of members of the Penan community looking directly out at the viewer.
A decade later, the construction of the controversial Bakun Hydroelectric Dam, criticised by many environmental groups for being inconsistent with sustainable development, would affect one third of Sarawak’s remaining rainforest and involve the relocation of almost 10,000 forest-dependent indigenous peoples, including the Penan. In her work Bakun, Nirmala has made an unusually narrative painting, reminiscent of the horizontal “Chinese scroll” format employed by Nanyang artist Cheong Soo Pieng. While we see the silkscreened Penan weave again, here the figures are painted in soft volumes, left faceless, behind them butterflies and stripped trees a meagre echo of the forest, like pictures from a child’s colouring book.
Membalak Jangan Seberangan, Nanti Ditimpa Balak
Sejak akhir tahun 1980-an, kegiatan pembalakan sah dan haram yang berlangsung di Sarawak sejak beberapa dekad yang lalu semakin menjadi-jadi. Di situlah terletaknya hutan hujan tropika antara yang paling pelbagai di Asia. Sejak awal tahu 1987, orang Penan membangunkan rintangan untuk menghentikan segala kerja pemusnahan hutan dan tempat mereka mencari rezeki. Karya Membalak Jangan Seberangan, Nanti Ditimpa Balak (1989–1990), yang judulnya diambil daripada peribahasa Melayu, mempersembahkan suatu bentuk amaran terhadap kerja pembalakan melampau. Lukisan-lukisan semacam poster itu meminjam corak tenunan orang Penan, dengan gambar-gambar cetakan sutera saring yang memaparkan masyarakat Penan sedang merenung tajam ke arah kita.
Sedekad kemudian, projek pembinaan Empangan Hidroelektrik Bakun yang dikatakan tidak sejalan dengan pembangunan lestari itu akhirnya telah memberi kesan kepada satu per tiga kawasan hutan hujan tropika Sarawak yang masih tersisa. Hampir 10,000 orang pribumi terpaksa berpindah, termasuklah orang Penan. Dalam karya Bakun, Nirmala menghasilkan sebuah lukisan naratif yang jarang dilakukan dengan mengenang format Chinese scroll yang digunakan oleh Cheong Soo Pieng. Biarpun gambar sutera saring Penan masih ada, figura-figura tersebut dilukis lembut, tidak berwajah, dan di belakang mereka terdapat rama-rama dan pokok kering, bak gambar-gambar dari buku mewarna kanak-kanak.
STATEMENT III
THIRD SCHEMATIC SERIES: A COMPARISON JANUARY TO JULY 1975: A PHOTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTATION OF CHILDREN IN SOME DEPRESSED AREAS IN KUALA LUMPUR AND KLANG.
NOV.. 1978 – FEB. 1979: THREE YEARS LATER THE SAME AREA WAS REVISITED AND A COMPARISON WAS MADE.
A QUESTION THAT ARISES OVER AND OVER AGAIN: WHAT HAS CHANGED?
THE CHILDREN OF KG KERINCI ARE STILL PLAYING AT THE SAME GARBAGE DUMP SITE...
THE DILAPIDATED HOUSES ALONG BATU 4 JLN DAMANSARA ARE STILL THERE – THE INHABITANTS ARE THOSE SAME CHILDREN – ONLY THEY HAVE GROWN UP BUT NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED EVEN THOUGH THREE YEARS HAVE PASSED.
THE OLD HOUSES ALONG JLN PANTAI
DALAM ARE STILL THERE BY THE ROADSIDE...
HAS THERE BEEN NO CHANGE AT ALL?
KENYATAAN III
SIRI RENCANA KETIGA: SATU PERBANDINGAN JANUARI HINGGA JULAI 1975: SATU DOCUMENTASI FOTOGRAFI MENGENAI KANAK-KANAK DI BEBERAPA KAWASAN MELESET DI KUALA LUMPUR DAN KELANG.
NOV. 1978 – FEB. 1979: TIGA TAHUN KEMUDIAN KAWASAN YANG SAMA DIKUNJUNGI SEMULA DAN PERBANDINGAN DIBUAT.
PERSOALAN TIMBUL BERKALI-KALI: APAKAH YANG TELAH BERUBAH?
KANAK-KANAK KG KERINCI MASIH BERMAIN DI TEMPAT SAMPAH YANG SAMA...
RUMAH-RUMAH USANG DI BATU 4 JLN DAMANSARA MASIH LAGI DI SITU – PENGHUNINYA JUGA KANAK-KANAK YANG SAMA – HANYA MEREKA SUDAH BESAR TETAPI TIDAK BANYAK TERDAPAT PERUBAHAN WALAUPUN SUDAH TIGA TAHUN BERLALU.
RUMAH-RUMAH USANG DI JLN PANTAI DALAM MASIH ADA DI TEPI JALAN... TIDAK ADAKAH PERUBAHAN LANGSUNG?
Self-Portrait
While Nirmala interrogated the world around her, she was always conscious of her own presence in it. She was interested in the theories of the renowned British psychiatrist R.D. Laing who argued that madness is a response to insanity in the environment, and questioned the controls that were imposed on the individual by family, state, and society. As she searched for her own position within the maelstrom of the world, she saw, in all tragedies, her own self-portrait.
In 1999, Nirmala made two self-portraits for the group exhibition Aku at Galeri Petronas. They present two “artist statements”. In one, a photograph of herself as a young woman is pasted together with a 40-cent rambutan stamp at the centre of a gestural abstract image on which Nirmala has repeatedly scrawled the title of the exhibition and part of the words “artist’s statement”. In the other, the same photo, and a photocopy of it, are pasted onto the cross and triangle forms seen in Woman V and the Great Leap Forward paintings. The canvas is covered in red, with a dark red splotch, alluding to the bloody quality of mengkudu dye used in ikat and pua weaving, a material she had been experimenting with since the mid-1980s. Her statement here is a question to us looking at her work:
“When are you all going to say enough! and stop it?”
Self-Portrait
Nirmala sentiasa sedar akan keberadaan dirinya dalam dunia yang diterokai. Dia dekat dengan teori-teori yang dikemukakan oleh R.D. Laing, seorang ahli psikiatri British. Bagi Laing, ketidaksiuman adalah respons terhadap kegilaan yang berlegar dalam persekitaran kita. Dia selalu mempertanyakan tentang kawalan yang dikenakan terhadap individu, baik melalui institusi keluarga, negara, mahupun masyarakat. Saat Nirmala mencari kedudukannya dalam kelibang-kelibut dunia tersebut, dia menemui potret dirinya dalam setiap tragedi yang menerpa.
Pada tahun 1999, Nirmala menghasilkan dua buah karya potret diri untuk dipamerkan di pameran Aku di Galeri Petronas. Kedua-dua buah karya tersebut adalah “kenyataan seniman”. Dalam salah satu gambar, potret dirinya ketika muda dikepilkan bersama sekeping setem buah rambutan bernilai 40 sen, menempel di tengah-tengah sebuah gambar niskala yang tertulis judul pameran dan separuh kata “kenyataan seniman”. Dalam karya kedua, gambar yang sama berserta fotokopi ditampalkan di atas bentukan palang dan segi tiga seperti dalam karya Woman V dan Great Leap Forward. Kanvas dipenuhi warna merah dengan sapuan merah gelap, seakan-akan darah yang turut mencirikan dakwat mengkudu yang biasa digunakan dalam kerja menenun ikat dan pua. Bahan itulah yang diuji cuba Nirmala sejak pertengahan tahun 1980-an. Kenyataannya adalah sebuah pertanyaan kepada kita yang menatap karyanya:
“Bilanya kamu nak sudah-sudah?”
Tsunami
On 26 December 2004, the third most powerful earthquake in recorded history erupted off the coast of Sumatra. The Indian Ocean Tsunami devastated communities all along the coast of the Indian Ocean, killing over 200,000 people across 14 countries.
At the time, Nirmala had slowed down the pace of her art-making. She was often ill and weak, struggling with asthma and osteoporosis. After years of avoiding the news, she forced herself to watch news reports on the tsunami and its aftermath. Day after day, she witnessed the devastation wrought across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand. But she also listened to accounts of the immense heights of human compassion, as the world united in solidarity in response to the crisis.
In a surge of energy, Nirmala made over fifty Tsunami paintings over the course of four to five months from 2004–2005. The use of silkscreen has been abandoned completely and only two paintings in the series feature newspaper images. Using a roller, palette knife, and a flat brush, Nirmala depicts the swell of the tsunami waves, rising like a wall, against a cerulean blue sky. Notably, this is the only series where Nirmala responds to a natural—not man-made—tragedy, confronting the ultimate, and most indifferent force of creation and destruction, nature herself.
A few years after Tsunami was completed, the artist fell debilitatingly ill; she would no longer be able to make art with the same vigour as she used to. Tsunami was her last major series of works.
Tsunami
Pada 26 Disember 2004, gempa bumi ketiga terkuat pernah dicatat berlaku di Sumatra. Tsunami yang terjadi sejurus selepas itu telah mengorbankan lebih daripada 200,000 orang di 14 buah negara di sepanjang persisiran Lautan Hindi.
Pada masa itu, Nirmala sudah kurang berkarya. Dia sering sakit dan bergelut dengan asma dan osteoporosis. Setelah lama tidak membaca berita, beliau memaksa dirinya untuk melihat laporan-laporan berita tentang tsunami dan kesan-kesannya. Setiap hari dia menyaksikan kemusnahan yang berlaku di Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, dan Thailand. Dalam masa yang sama, dia juga mendengar pelbagai kisah mengenai belas kasihan dan semangat perpaduan yang ditunjukkan masyarakat dunia ketika itu.
Nirmala menghasilkan lebih daripada lima puluh lukisan dengan judul Tsunami dalam masa empat lima bulan dari 2004–2005. Dia tidak lagi menggunakan sutera saring. Hanya ada dua buah lukisan sahaja dalam siri ini yang memaparkan gambar daripada surat khabar. Dengan menggunakan penggelek, pisau palet, dan berus leper, Nirmala memaparkan ombak tsunami yang meninggi bagai benteng, berlatarkan langit biru. Siri ini merupakan satu-satunya karya di mana Nirmala bertindak balas terhadap bencana alam sekitar dan bukannya buatan manusia. Dia berhadapan sendiri dengan kuasa alam yang paling besar, yang mencipta dan yang menghancurkan.
Beberapa tahun selepas karya Tsunami siap, seniman ini jatuh sakit. Dia tidak mampu lagi menghasilkan karya yang penuh bertenaga seperti dahulu. Tsunami adalah karya besarnya yang terakhir.
Woman
In 1998 and 1999, Nirmala made a series of paintings under the title Woman, using silhouettes of a woman’s torso.
Sharing the hard-edge graphic quality and sense of irony of Great Leap Forward, it “counter-maps” the European painterly tradition of the female muse, with its fixation on the female body as a symbol, or a template for formal experimentation.
There is nothing easy in how women are pictured or seen in Nirmala’s work.
In two works titled Violence, a woman makes the defensive gesture of a cross against the threat of domestic violence. Across the exhibition, we see women in hard real-life situations—as mothers protecting or crying for their children in war-time, or as an ageing flower-seller in the city, struggling to make ends meet.
Being a woman and mother herself, and having personal experiences of trauma, Nirmala has a particular empathy with women, and it is in solidarity that she presents these stories.
Woman
Pada tahun 1998 dan 1999, Nirmala menghasilkan sebuah siri lukisan berjudul Woman menggunakan bayang-bayang torso perempuan.
Ciri grafik hard-edge serta ironi yang wujud dalam Great Leap Forward turut hadir dalam siri lukisan ini. Siri ini “melakar balas peta” tradisi pelukisan Eropah yang menjadikan perempuan sebagai sumber ilham, dengan obsesi tentang tubuh wanita sebagai simbol, atau sebuah kerangka bagi eksperimentasi secara formal.
Tiada apa yang remeh dengan cara perempuan dicitrakan atau ditonton dalam karya Nirmala.
Dalam dua karya yang bertajuk Violence terlihat seorang perempuan memperisaikan lengan, menangkis keganasan rumah tangga. Dalam pameran tersebut, kita menatap perempuan yang terhumban ke dalam kepayahan hidup. Dia ibu yang melindungi atau menangisi anak-anaknya ketika perang, atau dia si penjual bunga tua yang begelut dengan kelaparan di tengah kota.
Nirmala sendiri seorang perempuan dan seorang ibu yang pernah merasai luka. Dia amat memahami wanita dan lukisan-lukisan ini adalah buat mereka.
Anak Asia
Baha Zain
mereka tidak akan mengerti
tentang kerut wajah kita dalam tidur
segala derita dunia dibawa ke ranjang malam
tak terhapus oleh suatu mimpi
berjuta pengungsi lari dari bedil dan kebengisan
tanpa perhitungan apakah lari bererti kehidupan
yang mendekam dalam pasir, derita alam dan kelaparan
segalanya tercatat pada wajah
meski hitam atau kuning warna kulitnya
meski hitam atau kuning warna kulitnya
bayi itu tak berdosa untuk diwariskan keganasan
atau diajar apa ertinya kehidupan
dengan cara pembunuhan
atau dibesarkan dengan susu berbau mesiu
di bawah bayang-bayang sepatu perang
kerut-kerut wajah akan terbawa ke dalam mimpi
seperti garis-garis panjang menggerunkan
sewaktu ia bangun oleh ledakan
ia sudah dewasa
dalam bayang-bayang bergerak
dunia baginya gelap
harus disiksa dan dimusnahkan
lain tak ada pilihan.
Dari Kertas Catatan Tengah Malam, 1978
Great Leap Forward I
1998
Acrylic and silkscreen on canvas
102 × 92 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Great Leap Forward III
1998
Silkscreen and acrylic on canvas
102 × 92 cm
Collection of Srividhya Ganapathy
Great Leap Forward III
1998
Silkscreen and acrylic on canvas
102 × 92 cm
Collection of Srividhya Ganapathy
Great Leap Forward IV and the Wayang Mask of the Rangda from the Barong Dance, Bali
1998
Mixed media on canvas
102 × 92 cm
Private Collection
Great Leap Forward IV and the Wayang Mask of the Rangda from the Barong Dance, Bali
1998
Mixed media on canvas
102 × 92 cm
Private Collection
Great Leap Forward V - Twin Towers
1998
Acrylic on canvas
102 × 92 cm
Collection of Shantini Vanniasingham
Great Leap Forward V - Twin Towers
1998
Acrylic on canvas
102 × 92 cm
Collection of Shantini Vanniasingham
Great Leap Forward VI - Bakun
1998
Silkscreen and acrylic on canvas
102 × 92 cm
Collection of National Gallery Singapore
Great Leap Forward VI - Bakun
1998
Silkscreen and acrylic on canvas
102 × 92 cm
Collection of National Gallery Singapore
Great Leap Forward VIII
1998-99
Acrylic on jute
102 × 92 cm
Private Collection
Mah Meri Landscape
1999
Silkscreen and acrylic on canvas
102 × 61 cm
Collection of Srividhya Ganapathy
Mah Meri Landscape II
1999
Silkscreen and acrylic on canvas
91.5 × 107 cm
Collection of Srividhya Ganapathy
Mah Meri Landscape II
1999
Silkscreen and acrylic on canvas
91.5 × 107 cm
Collection of Srividhya Ganapathy
Mah Meri Landscape IV
1999
Silkscreen and acrylic on canvas
102 × 92 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Tsunami 2004 – 2005 IX
2005
Acrylic on canvas
101 × 91 cm
Private Collection
Tsunami 2004 – 2005 VI
2005
Acrylic on canvas
101 × 91 cm
Collection of Muzium & Galeri Tuanku Fauziah, Universiti Sains Malaysia
Tsunami 2004 – 2005 VI
2005
Acrylic on canvas
101 × 91 cm
Collection of Muzium & Galeri Tuanku Fauziah, Universiti Sains Malaysia
Tsunami 2004 – 2005 VIII
2005
Acrylic on canvas
101 × 91 cm
Private Collection
Tsunami 2004 – 2005 XI
2005
Acrylic on canvas
101 × 91 cm
Private Collection
Tsunami 2004 – 2005 XI
2005
Acrylic on canvas
101 × 91 cm
Private Collection
Tsunami 2004 – 2005 XII
2005
Acrylic on canvas
101 × 91 cm
Private Collection
Tsunami 2004 – 2005 XII
2005
Acrylic on canvas
101 × 91 cm
Private Collection
Tsunami 2004 – 2005 XXIX
2005
Collage and acrylic on canvas
101 × 101 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Tsunami 2004 – 2005 XXIX
2005
Collage and acrylic on canvas
101 × 101 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Tsunami 2004 – 2005 XXVII
2005
Collage and acrylic on canvas
101 × 101 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Tsunami 2004 – 2005 XXVII
2005
Collage and acrylic on canvas
101 × 101 cm
Collection of the Estate of Nirmala Dutt
Tsunami 2004 – 2005 XXVIII
2005
Acrylic on canvas
101 × 101 cm
Private Collection
Tsunami 2004 – 2005 XXVIII
2005
Acrylic on canvas
101 × 101 cm
Private Collection