High-school's a time when a damsel experiences hormonal changes of puberty, making her restless, bored and ambivalent. The artist Fadilah Karim shows Mei Cher, her schoolmate back in her Batu Pahat hometown, as a surrogate self in a dark room in the throes of ennui, in different postures in freeze motion. The light emanating from some openings throws delicious shadows for contemplation. There is some psychological tension at play in these solitary intimate moments in what is to become Fadilah's trademark muted realism. But in later works, Fadilah Karim insinuates herself in animated dramas like a Cindy Sherman selfie, tracing her life from bachelorhood to marriage, motherhood and parenthood with her daughter Aira as a mascot always hovering somewhere in the studio. At times, the figures in Fadilah Karim's works are stuck in a perpetual state of anguish, the characters readily questioning their personal values. Fadilah Karim made history when she was given a retrospective of sorts for her only 10 years of art practice by Segaris Art Centre called, A Decade: Fadilah Karim 2010-2020. After graduating with a BFA from Universiti ITM, she had a two-month apprenticeship under Amron 'Pertarungan' Omar. Even before completing her Masters, she was exposed in her first solo, Vague, at the Pace Gallery in Petaling Jaya in 2012. Her awards include the Governor of Malacca Portrait competition, runner-up and 3rd Prize in the Tanjung Heritage competition. She was featured among 16 leading artists in Art Stage Singapore 2015. Other notable selections were in the Art Stage Singapore 2016, Art Taipei (2015), Art Gwangju (2015), Art Bazaar Berlin (2014), and Art Expo Malaysia (2013-2015).