Whether it was Amron Omar who mentored Nurfadila Abd Karim, better known as Fadilah Karim, for two months in 2010 into a figurative trail-blazer today, is moot. She was already winning prizes before in the Portrait of the Governor of Malacca competition and was runner-up in the Tanjung Heritage competition. But the tutelage certainly helps. A Lot. For Fadilah, a lot changes: she held her first solo, Vague, at the Pace Gallery (now Nadine Fine Arts) in 2012, and Secret Lies at Taksu Gallery, KL, in 2016. She featured in a double header with the Philippines’ Guenivere Decena in the Mystery exhibition at HOM Art Trans in 2014, and was among 16 top Malaysian figurative artists featured in a special exhibition at Art Stage Singapore 2015. Usually noted for her portraits which are enigmatic, inscrutable and even melancholic, this circle portrait is imbued with greater clarity and light tones, although the figure seems to be fixated on something. Fadilah graduated with a Masters in Fine Art, Majoring in Painting, at the UiTM (University Mara Institute of Technology), Jalan Othman, Petaling Jaya, in 2013, Bachelor’s in 2010, and a diploma from the UiTM Malacca in 2008. In 2008, she also won the Incentive Award in the Shah Alam Open Show.