(b. Kedah, 1948)
Recognised as the “Grand Dame of Malaysian Abstract Art”, Dato’ Sharifah Fatimah Syed Zubir has been actively producing mesmerising abstract paintings with elegant forms and vibrant hues for five decades. She comes from a lineage of skilled artisans in the traditional craft of kain telepuk and tenun textile weaving and traces her ancestry to Imam Ali al-Uraidhi ibn Ja’far al-Sadiq, the brother of Imam Musa ibn Ja’far al-Kadhim – an important link to the spiritual essence of her oeuvre. Born 1948 in Alor Setar, Kedah, Dato’ Sharifah Fatimah Syed Zubir obtained a Master of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute New York, the U.S in 1978; Bachelor in Fine Arts (First Class Hons) from Reading University, United Kingdom in 1976; and a Diploma in Fine Art from MARA Institute of Technology in 1971.