Norma Abbas has in the last one-and-a-half decades dramatically expanded her repertoire. With a title like Special Bonding, those used to her fetching figurations would have expected well-endowed female figures, long curling eyelashes, pouty lips with the odd feline or two thrown in. Now, it's a more fragmentary melange of this and that: spools of abstract patterns, scrawlings, a crysanthemum or is it a sunflower, plain five fingers signifying the Hand of Fatima or Hamza for symbolic aura, and yes, the full-blooded lips are still there, as are her vibrant colours, if not more so. These objects help relate to the emotional thrust of her work on relationships with family and friends. Less figurations mean less caricaturist for one dubbed a Female Daumier for her satirical turns, irreverent and whimsical. Norma Abbas has been a fulltime artist since 1987. Educated in public schools in London, she returned and eventually did her Pre-Diploma Foundation Studies at the Mara Institute of Technology before furthering her studies back in England - BA in Printed / Woven Textiles at the Manchester Polytechnic of Art, England and MA in Autographics Printmaking at the Chelsea School of Art. Her recent solos included A Colourful Journey (Bank Negara Museum and Art Gallery), Coded Diaries and Super Special Ones at Wei-Ling Gallery.