Friends,
Titled Sivam Selvaratnam: ART IN LIFE, the exhibition of drawings and paintings by pioneer Malaysian visual artist, the late Sivam Selvaratnam, hosted by her husband, Dr Selvaratnam, and Sutra Foundation at Sutra Gallery on 26 September 2026, was a stylish and deeply meaningful celebration of an important but perhaps insufficiently recognised artistic legacy.
Curated by artist Sivarajah Natarajan and inaugurated by Tan Sri Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan, the opening brought together many prominent members of the Jaffna Tamil community, the Selvaratnam family and friends of the artist. Among those present were Dato’ Hajeedar Abdul Majid, who had been with Sivam in the pioneering Wednesday Art Group (WAG), founded in 1952, astrophysicist Tan Sri Mazlan Othman, Smt Vijayalakshmi Sunderrajan (Director of NSCBICC), Dato’ Dominic Puthucheary (Prominent Malaysian Lawyer), Mr Raja Singham (BAC Education Group), and Trustees of Sutra Foundation.
The exhibition presented a carefully selected body of works from different periods of Sivam’s career, revealing the remarkable breadth of an artist whose creative language moved fluidly between abstraction and figuration, symbolism and nature, textiles and experimentation. It offered a rare opportunity to encounter, through her own works, the distinctive artistic intelligence of one of Malaysia’s pioneering women artists.
It was particularly apt that Sutra opened the evening with an excerpt from Navarasa, its contemporary dance work recently presented at the N9 Arts Festival at Millenia Village, Seremban. Sivam was herself a rasika of both dance and music, and the performance created a beautiful dialogue with the background of her visual imagination and the performing arts.
This was followed by a moving presentation by Dr Yamini Selvaratnam, who spoke of her mother’s inspiring and remarkable ability to negotiate the demands of domestic life while remaining deeply committed to her calling as an artist.
The subsequent conversation between Ramli Ibrahim and curator Sivarajah Natarajan provided further context to Sivam’s work, situating it within the exciting period of post-Merdeka Malaya and then Malaysia, when artists were searching for new visual languages that could contribute to the emergence of a distinctly Malaysian modern art identity.
In a perceptive and well-researched speech, Tan Sri Nallini brought further insight into Sivam as a highly intelligent woman artist who was profoundly of her time. She spoke of a woman who successfully balanced family, creativity and education — flourishing as a prolific artist while fulfilling the demanding roles of wife and mother.
But perhaps this was precisely what made Sivam so remarkable. She did not separate ART from LIFE. Always close to Nature, her creativity was woven into the life she lived, the family she nurtured, the people she touched and the values she transmitted. She had an extraordinary ability to instil in those around her an appreciation of beauty, culture, refinement and the richness of life. Her influence extended far beyond the works she produced.
Kudos to Sivarajah Natarajan for bringing together this important exhibition and allowing us to appreciate the impressive extent and diversity of Sivam Selvaratnam’s creative contribution.
The comprehensive publication Sivam Selvaratnam, A LIFE in ART, launched by Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz in 2024 at the Balai Seni Visual Malaysia, had already provided an important record of her artistic legacy. But the book, on its own, could never substitute for the experience of encountering the actual works. In that sense, this exhibition was long overdue. It gives the public an opportunity not merely to read about Sivam, but to see, experience and recognise the considerable artistic force she represented.
Sivam Selvaratnam was an undeniable creative force in Malaysian modern visual art — a pioneer, a woman of substance, a distinctive talent of quiet strength and intelligence, and an artist deeply passionate about her creative calling.
Her art was not simply something she made.
It was inseparable from the life she lived.
And that is perhaps the most fitting meaning of ART IN LIFE.
Sutra.