Handle with care Painting

The “Colour Run” is a series of watercolour paintings that explores some of the ways in which we understand and perceive the word “colour”. On one level, it is inspired - very simply - by the movement of colour (pigment) in water. At first glance, watercolour seems to be a very accessible medium - a staple ingredient of the hobby artist’s repertoire. But it is deceptively challenging. It does not like to be rushed, nor controlled. Some of the most beautiful paintings emerge where the colour is given the freedom to move where it wants, at its own pace. Living in South Africa, the word ‘colour’ has similar levels of ambguity. People, both physically and emotionally, are often divided along skin colour lines. They are judged by the colour of their skin long before individuals seek to understand the person within that skin. The reality is that the colour of someone’s skin is as relevant to their nature and character as the colour of their eyes. In this series, Ros plays around with the two perspectives. In some, images of 'people of colour' sometimes have no colour; in others, ‘white’ people are painted using only black. Many paintings are labelled the every day language of laundry, where whites and colours are often segregated. The viewer chooses their own perspective: simply see the paintings at their surface value or else delve deeper - into the more murky waters of race, prejudice and segregation.