Colours and the play of light are the main components of Dato’ Sharifah Fatimah’s work. For her, colour is energy while light symbolises existence. The artist manifests the dynamic interactions of colours, combining elegant strokes applied in multiple directions. She is strongly influenced by Nature’s movements, producing contemplative works which suggest an underlying philosophical ideal. Dato’ Sharifah Fatimah Syed Zubir is without doubt one of the greatest women artists in Malaysia today, with a body of astonishing unequalled works. She is from the pioneering batch of fine art students from the Mara Institute of Technology (now a university) graduating in 1971. She studied for her BFA at the Reading University, England, in 1973-1976, and her MFA at the Pratt Institute, New York, in 1976-1978, under the JDR III Fund fellowship. She won the Minor Award in the Malaysian Landscape competition in 1972 and the 1981 Bakat Muda Sezaman. In 1979, she won the coveted Major Award in the Salon Malaysia. In 2007, she was conferred the Dato’ title by the Sultan of Kedah. Her other awards include 3rd Prize in the 2nd Biennial of Contemporary Painting of the Islamic World in Tehran, Iran, in 2003. Prices of her artworks have been soaring high recently in auction houses locally and abroad.