When Yusof Ghani unleashed Ombak: Breath of Life at a packed solo exhibition opening at Bank Negara Malaysia Museum and Art Gallery in November 2014, what many saw was a vigorous sense of movement and momentum flooding back into his works. But Yusof was in his early 60s, no longer the energetic ‘protest’-driven art-ivist of his celebrated Tari series. Maligas is inspired by a place in north Sumatra. What is it about the place, or events and how, it is only a flicker of a memory, as the waves lap up objects, manmade and natural, and images and sounds, with a hint of the nocturnal for something mysterious. Ombak may be about a flurry of movement, with no conscious flow and in a ceaseless disarray, but it lies as a fugitive memory, about lapses of time. Yusof Ghani’s art career started in 1981, when he got a scholarship to study for his BFA at the George Mason University, which he followed up with his MFA at the Catholic University (1983). Before, for 10 years and without formal art education, he had dabbled in various art-related jobs. America was a great eye-opener to him, and when he returned, he lectured at the Mara Institute of Technology. His career highlights include his London debut in 2017, in a solo called Segerak VI - Transcendant Figures, at the Asia House. His series, in chronological order, are Tari, Topeng, Wayang, Hijau, Biring, Wajah, Ombak, Segerak, and Kuda. Yusof has also organised the Shah Alam Biennale at his Tapak gallery cum resident in Shah Alam, the first in 2016.