Vietnamese Refugees, Cycle I, Vietnamese Refugees

Vietnamese Refugees is a work from the period which coincides with Nirmala’s return to Malaysia from England in 1978. Nirmala’s approach was informed by her concern of how abject realities, particularly those of women and children, in Asia and the African continent were depicted in the news. In particular, she started producing works which look directly at the US involvement in Vietnam War. News pictures are photocopied and pasted or transferred via silkscreen onto the canvas, then overlaid with gestural brushstrokes in a sparse palette to evoke a sense of violence and dislocation.