The literal translation of ‘Kemelut Muara’ is about an estuary that is at a critical stage. But what springs to mind and more fetching to the imagination is Ziana Zain’s song, Kemelut di Muara Kasih, about love’s sacrifices, from her album, Keunggulan. The metaphor of the estuaries as the ‘nurseries of the seas’ is where everything converges in a flooded river valley and the fresh water and sediments of the river make its way out into the salt waters of the ocean. Doubtfully, the artist Yusri Sulaiman, is driven by such lovey-dovey sentiments. It relates to an episodal experience at some crucial point of his life that saw him triumphal and this is a bitter-sweet memory of his recollection.You could virtually feel the ‘gelora’ (tension) in the dripping lines, the odd shapes knocking against one another,the splotchy lines in the central composition, but an oasis of calm subdued colours without, on top and below. Apart from an exhibition at the now defunct XOAS Gallery, Yusri Sulaiman held his “Jungle” solo at Wei-Ling Gallery detailing the plight of the indigenous Orang Asli children. He won 1st Prize in Maybank’s Expressions of the Malayan Tiger exhibition in 2010 and Honorable mention in the Malaysian Asean Art Award in 1997. Yusri graduated with a diploma from the Mara Institute of Technology in 1999.