The artist’s works often explore critical issues such as environmental pollution, loss of heritage, and social injustices. A variety of grey and black strokes were used to form a geometrical shape, in contrast with a rich blue colour on top of the canvas.  Nirmala Dutt Shanmughalingam studied drawing, painting, and art history at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington and in Massachusetts at both the Boston College of Art and Harvard Universities Fogg Museum. She studied printmaking at Goldsmiths and undertook a Master of Philosophy at University College London. Her work has been exhibited internationally, at the National Gallery of Thailand, the Fukuoka Art Museum in Japan, the Barbican Centre London, the Singapore Art Museum as well as in “Breaking The Veils: Women Artists Of The Islamic World” a touring exhibition organised jointly by UNESCO and the Royal Society of Fine Arts in Jordan. Locally, Ilham Gallery organised a tribute exhibition Nirmala Dutt: Statements, from July to December 2023.