A quiet exploration of home, identity and belonging.
“I’ve long been drawn to the idea of home, not simply as a place, but as a feeling.
Born in the UK and living in South Africa since 1998, I understand belonging as something layered. Throughout the chapters of my life, I have been shaped both by places and by people. I have learned that a sense of belonging can be found just as much in landscape and light, as in the faces of those closest to us and in the quiet spaces between departure and arrival.
Through paint, charcoal and ink, I explore identity, place and the human experience, hoping to leave room for the viewer to weave their own narrative into the work”.
“I tend to work in chapters. Like a good book.”
Ros moves fluidly between mediums, scale and subject matter. Some seasons are devoted to oils on large stretched canvas; others unfold in charcoal, ink or mixed media on paper.
She moves also between two worlds.
One shaped by nature.
One shaped by people.
“In some chapters of my artistic practice, almost everything I share comes from the Great Outdoors. Over time, though, my interest in people and their stories has started to emerge through my art”
Wherever I go, wherever I live, I’m interested in both. The places Nature has given us, devoid of human presence, as well as the places where people have existed, inhabited and left an impression.”
Her sketchbooks often act as quiet testing grounds, spaces to resolve composition and palette before stepping into larger bodies of work. At times the studio feels abundant and immersive; at others, pared back and immediate.
It simply depends on which chapter she’s working in.
“I love trying to capture the raw energy of Nature”
Ros Koch (b.1975) is a British-born artist who has lived and worked in South Africa since 1998.
Since becoming a full-time artist in 2012, her work has been exhibited in multiple solo and group shows. It is held in private and corporate collections in South Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Her portrait The Age of Adolescence was selected for the Top 100 Portrait Awards 2025 in South Africa and for the Portrait Award 2026 sponsored by Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, at the National Portrait Gallery in the UK where it is hanging until 7 October 2026.
She lives and works from her home studio in the shadow of Stellenbosch mountain.
