The Black Moon series, numbering only 14 large works and done between 1989 and 1992, catapulted Eng Hwee Chu into local art history with her Magic Realism approach to issues on faith, the feminine self and identity, tradition and heritage, social hierarchy, taboos and expectations. It was Black Moon that won her the Minor Award in the Salon Malaysia 3 in 1991 and the Minor Award in the Young Contemporary Artists competition (Bakat Muda Sezaman) in 1992. The powerful messages in the series also factored greatly in the decision in her selection for the 2nd Asia-Pacific Triennial in Brisbane, Australia, in 1996. For the daughter of a grocer in Batu Pahat, Eng Hwee Chu paid great dividends in her decision to study Art, graduating from the Malaysian Institute of Art, and later teaching there briefly. Her early success includes her Black Moon series, 1st Prize in the Malaysian edition Philip Morris Asean Art Award in 1994, with her Cry Freedom. She was also selected for the Art in Southeast Asia (Hiroshima, Japan, 1997) and the Women In Between: Asian Women Artists 1984-2012 in Fukuoka and Tochigi in Japan (2012). In Henry Butcher Art Auction December 2021, her record auction price was set when Black Moon 13 (1992) was sold for RM252,000.