Fadilah Karim

b. 1987, Malaysia

Fadilah Karim first fell in love with art through colouring contests of her childhood. However, it wasn’t until a two-month mentorship under Malaysian figurative painter Amron Omar and a group show after her graduation that becoming an artist began to seem like an attainable goal. Fadilah only has had two solo exhibitions (Vague at Pace Gallery in 2012 and most recently, Secret Lies at TAKSU Kuala Lumpur in 2016) to her name, but it’s enough to showcase her signature aesthetic – a disciplined use of colour, intimate portraiture, distinct elements of shadow and light, and a sense of drama and mystery.

In interviews, Karim frequently refers to her works as autobiographical in nature. Every image tells a story – melancholic scenes of a girl, her face partially hidden from the viewer (sometimes with a sandy rabbit), or characters falling into the unknown – there’s a sense of despair about it all. Holding a Masters in Fine Art & Technology from UiTM, Karim is also a HOM Art Trans Young Guns 2013 award recipient and has exhibited in Singapore, Germany, Taiwan and Korea besides Malaysia.