The Interview : Kamal Koria

Rachna Singh, Editor, The Wise Owl talks to Kamal Koria, a contemporary Indian Artist based in UK.

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Thank you Kamal, for taking time out to speak with The Wise Owl.

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RS: Many of your paintings begin with everyday moments — women talking, carrying pots, sitting together, walking through villages. How do these scenes first come to you? Do you sketch from memory, photographs, or from images that stay with you over time?

KK: Those door step conversations, those large cows, the goats on delicate limbs, the giant trees and the colourful birds are what my memories are made from. I don't have photographs from this time, these visual contemplations are stills from my memory.

RS: Your work repeatedly returns to the colours and textures of Kathiawar — embroidered fabrics, painted walls, jewellery, utensils, marketplaces. When you paint, how important are these details in helping you rebuild the world you grew up in?

KK: I grew up in rural Kathiawad so these fragments of details remain as moments that make up my memories. As I view my childhood memories through the lens of an adult, I find myself wandering the pathways through my canvas village.

These details fill in the gaps of my childhood memory, my intent on capturing those moments, those fragments and that feeling enables me to escape the chaos of the world today.

RS: The women in your paintings feel deeply observed and emotionally alive. Were there particular women in your childhood — relatives, neighbours, family members — whose presence continues to shape the way you paint female figures today?

KK: Though my mother passed away when I was 3, I was brought up in a household filled with women, my sisters and aunts around me in the domestic space. Always present but as a young male I was never invited in, I became the observer. I was never part of those conversations and many of my questions remained unanswered. In my paintings I realise the answers by recognising how women were shaped by their duties, societal expectations and their cultural responsibilities. They became their roles and this was shown in their everyday actions. The way their hands and fingers speak, their identity expressed through the colours of their clothes, their ornaments that were  often weighted with stories and their expression based on their hierarchical role  became their individual identity. I now have three daughters and my wife. These four women continue to inspire me and keep me in a place of contemplation in trying to understand them.

RS: Although your paintings are rooted in village life, they never feel overly sentimental or documentary. How do you decide what to leave out of a composition, and what to emphasise, so that the painting carries emotion without becoming illustrative?

KK: With each painting, I aim to capture my feeling of calm, contemplation and  balance. This is achieved by framing the composition and simplifying shape and  colour to bring more focus to the expression and poise. Leaving space for the observer to complete with their own interpretation.

RS:  You moved to the UK in 1976 and built a life in Leicester, yet Gujarat remains central to your visual imagination. Has distance sharpened your memories as a painter? Are there details you notice more clearly now than when you actually lived there?

KK: I continue to visit Gujarat regularly and  there has been a lot of change since my childhood. When visiting more rural settings, I am able to recognise those moments that shaped my memories. These nostalgic moments take me back to that feeling, it is this feeling that I strive to capture in my paintings.

RS:  Before focusing fully on fine art, you worked in commercial art and design — colouring photographs, creating graphics and working with local businesses. Did that experience influence the bold outlines, strong compositions and striking colour balance we see in your paintings today?

KK: As a young child, I was inspired by sign board painters, fascinated by the way paint was moved to create images. I spent time copying, learning and trying to achieve the skills they confidently displayed. My self taught way progressed to a job in

Graphic design, it was the only way I knew how to use my skill to make money. My style has evolved over time to meet commercial demands, consider project needs and respond to life happenings. During my recent retrospective exhibition, when looking back at my work from college, I was surprised and pleased to see that my current style was heavily embedded in my early work.

RS: Your paintings often feel calm and unhurried, even when they depict communal life. In practical terms, what does your painting process look like? Do you work slowly over weeks, or do your compositions arrive quite quickly once the image settles in your mind?

KK: I still continue to sketch, it has been a life long habit, my daily routine, a ritual — the way I soothe a constant itch. I take a sketchbook everywhere. Each sketchbook becomes  part of me. So many paintings have evolved from these sketches. I start with planning colour schemes on sketches then when I am ready to take a sketch to canvas, I format the composition of the sketch best to fit a canvas.. the process of painting is usually over a few days, from base to refining details...  i dont think I have ever been fully satisfied with a finished piece. It is only with time and space away from the painting that I can see it with fresh eyes.

RS:  Looking at your recent work, one senses a deep commitment to preserving not only memory, but also a way of seeing — one rooted in community, ritual and human connection. Do you feel painting has become a way of holding onto cultural rhythms that are gradually disappearing?

KK: For me this has been motivation, I try to capture that feeling of my past to preserve this in some way. I want to share even a little bit of this with my children and now my grandchildren. I now see that in my own search, I have realised that there are others who are also searching for this feeling and it's in their stories that I understand how these paintings are experienced.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with The Wise Owl. Wishing you the very best in all your cultural endeavours.