Interview: Ros Koch

Bristol-born, now South Africa-based artist Ros Koch (née Avery) exhibits her work until March 2 at AVerys Wine Cellars in central Bristol. 

Ros’s work “explores these concepts of name, origin and identity. She challenges and interrogates labels and borders, real or imaginary, that people invent to feel more secure. And how these change over time. This retrospective collection of her work follows her own personal journey of changing identities, as well as those of others, emphasizing that identity is fluid and shifts throughout one’s life.”

Here’s Ros to tell us more.

“Child’s Play” (2017), ink on Hahnemuhle paper

I was born in Bristol but grew up on a smallholding in the countryside, near the village of Wrington, just south of Bristol Airport. I was the youngest (by eight minutes, as my older twin used to remind me often) of four children, and, as such, enjoyed a fair amount of freedom. When we weren’t out feeding animals and inside doing household chores, my twin and I spent our spare time playing by ourselves or with friends, usually in the fields and woods nearby our home. It was an idyllic childhood.

“Superdry” (2017), watercolour on Hahnemuhle paper

As a teenager, I was all set to explore further afield, with my sights set on going to senior school in Bristol. But our parents had other ideas. Whilst my twin went to school in Westbury, I ended up at a boarding school in North Lancashire! It was tough being so far from my soulmate but we survived. I figured I could always live in Bristol once school was out.

When I was offered a place to study at Bristol University, I was thrilled to finally come home. But then, an unexpected offer to study at Oxford University proved rather difficult to turn down. Bristol would have to wait…

…but not for long. Before the end of my second year of studies, I had secured a job offer at Burges Salmon law firm, whose offices back then were in Narrow Quay House in the heart of Bristol. My law tutors were disappointed; they felt I could ‘do better’ and practise law in some big company in London. But they didn’t know Burges Salmon, Bristol, nor how much I yearned to start work by the harbour, with the view of the green hills south of the Avon, hearing the daily chatter of seagulls, reminding me that the sea too is not so far.

At about the same time as I received this job offer, I met a very interesting South African called Peter, someone who had spent only three years in England but who (like me) longed to return home. But, unlike me, this longing was rooted in something far more than pure nostalgia and family ties. He longed to be part of the ‘new South Africa’, a land yet to be discovered as it took its first steps into democracy post-1994. I knew so few expat South Africans who had this passion for their homeland that it felt rather childish to dissuade him and, in doing so, to deprive this country of such a committed patriot.

Ros’s work in situ at Avery’s Wine Cellars

But could I live now back in Bristol with half my heart the other side of the world? I wasn’t so sure. So I asked Peter if he’d let me follow him. He rather rashly said yes!

When I was young, I used to long to be able to fly like a bird, wherever and whenever. As I grew older, my aspirations became a little more realistic; I simply wanted to learn how to drive a car and to have the money to afford one. It wasn’t just to be independent and explore further afield. It was also a means to come home, as and when the need or desire arose. We were a close family and still are to this day.

When I first moved out to South Africa, only able to afford to return to Bristol every two years, I felt a bit trapped. I missed a lot of special occasions, weddings of friends, reunions, etcetera. The few trips home I had were cherished dearly but always too short, and my heart was heavy as I boarded the plane back to South Africa. So different to those happy faces who were travelling to Cape Town on holiday.

As time has passed, though, things have got easier. I am now a permanent resident, I have an income, and we can afford to come back to the UK perhaps once every year and a half. But it is never as often as I’d like.

Ros’s three children beside her portraits of them

When people ask me, “what kind of art do you do?” or “What subjects do you like to paint?”, I find these deceptively simple questions difficult to answer. There is simply so much that both inspires me and moves me that I cannot give a definitive answer. Whether it is an innocent inquiry or the market’s demand for a signature style, I am hesitant to ‘box myself in’, to ‘peg myself on a hook’ for the sake of familiarity or predictability.

One of the first things I learned about art is that being an artist is not always about “making pretty pictures”. Like many people who’ve never been part of the art world, it took me a long time to understand that. Only eventually, through experience and observation, did I learn that art is more about noticing something you see – or something someone does – that you cannot forget. It strikes a chord. Provokes a reaction. Stirs a memory. Even haunts you, long after you walk away.

Looking back (2015), red wine on Fabriano paper

So, my art is not always a depiction of the things I see, but often of the feelings that they arouse in me. In terms of style, sometimes these feelings lend themselves to realism; other times, the emotions demand an interpretation that is more abstract. The diversity of my work (both in terms of style, medium and subject matter) illustrates how my sources of inspiration change all the time. My work often seeks to address the fact that the things we love most, change; that they are only around for a very short time and then disappear.

Art allows me the opportunity to look back and reflect. To acknowledge that, in moving on, building new hopes and dreams, there are still things that you can’t change; don’t leave; never forget. My art may not always “pretty” but sometimes it brings me closer to my own reality, and with that, a beauty that each of us might otherwise not see.

Ros Koch exhibits at Averys Wine Cellars until March 2. For more info, visit www.bristol247.com/whats-on/art/painting/appellation-ros-koch-averys-bristol and www.roskoch.co.za