When are you all going to say enough! and stop it?
Nirmala Dutt was at her very core, an activist fighting for change, and an artist. Nirm (as she preferred to be known) was my mentor and my friend, and the first person who forced me to understand what it means to be an active citizen. By the time I met her, she was imprisoned to her bed, and living a solitary life. Despite her circumstances – her presence was larger than life. She roared, she challenged, she never once backed down from her principles. She made me realise time and again that I could not just exist. That we must change what we can. And that where we can’t change things on our own – we force change by advocacy. She advocated with her artwork, which she created passionately and abundantly for as long as she was physically able, and always she pushed, and challenged things that most of us quietly accepted. I’ve not got the words which can do justice to Nirm. She was and continues to be one of Malaysia’s most important artists. Her works – masterpieces, every one of which s
