Dhumal was born in 1948 in Bengal She studied painting at the MS University of Baroda She trained as a painter as well as a print maker She has throughout her career attempted to bring prints and printmaking into the mainstream of the art world in India Her paintings centre on a mysterious woman devoid of physical details She comments on human relationships and the abstract She has received numerous awards and scholarships such as the Chancellors Gold Medal 1972 She was invited to be on the Governing Council of the National Institute of Design, Ahmadabad 1997 She has worked with KG Subramanian, W Hayter and Krishna Reddy She has also exhibited extensively around the globe She currently lives and works in VadodaraThe brilliance of colors in her works is the striking feature in every Seema Kohli painting The intricate, profound and expertly crafted brushwork that more often than not looks ethereal Her brush excavates, discovers and brings into focus, sights and sounds of this world within a world, capturing creation in creation, unearthing the cycle of life from under the miscellany of living Andit's from deep inside the womb that she gets her inspiration, as if she is an insider, giving us glimpses, stories and songs only she is witness to In 2009, she received the prestigious Gold Award at the Florence Biennale for her video installation, Swayamsiddha-Myth, Mind and Movement Important works of hers have found their way into public and private collections across the world, most recently at the Rubin Museum, New York; the New Delhi International Airport and the Indian Defense MinistryShe has also received the Young FICCI Ladies Organisation Women Achiever’s Award and the Lalit Kala National Award for Women in 2008 - one of the highest honours an artist can receive in India