This was a series of works on indiscriminate logging in Sarawak which caused the displacement of the itinerant Penans' habitats and inspired by the South American environmentalist Chico Mendez. Datin Nirmala Dutt Shanmughalingam had latched onto the rusty red dye of mengkudu (morinda citrifolia) which she used as decorative panels as well as negative-positive Pop highlights in the central panel of the indigenous family. Nim, as the artist is fondly called, was one who stridently pursued socio-political themes throughout her career: pollution, squatters squalor (Kampung Polo), Memali Incident, famine in Ethiopia, refugee children and boat people (Vietnam), ravages of war in Vietnam, Palestine, Hiroshima, Libya, Bosnia and Beirut (Sabra and Chatilla massacre)… Datin Nirmala Dutt Shanmughalingam was the only woman among 17 artists in the Second Generation Artists exhibition held at Galeri Petronas, Kuala Lumpur, in 1995. A major posthumous exhibition called Statements was held at Ilham Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, from July 18-Dec 24, 2023. Nim first caught the nation's attention when her work, Statements, was adjudged the joint winner of the Major Award in the Man And His World competition at the National Art Gallery in 1973, together with Sulaiman Esa's Manusia Dalam Alamnya. She did not restrict herself to only paintings, but also used Found materials, installation, photomontage and documentary photography. She was a Chevening Award scholar (London, 1993). She got her BSc in History of Art and Psychology BSc at the Oxford Polytechnic, England, followed by post-graduate studies. She was selected for national travelling exhibitions like the Contemporary Paintings of Malaysia at the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena (1988), the 3rd Asian Art Show, Fukuoka, Japan (1989), Contemporary Art from Islamic Countries at the Barbican Centre in London (1989), and the Modernity and Beyond: Themes in Southeast Asia at the Singapore Art Museum (1996), the 5th India Triennale (1982). She was also selected for the ARX '89 Metromania in Perth, Australia. She sparked controversy with her work, Friend In Need, in the Side By Side: Contemporary British and Malaysian Art in 1986.