Rochelle Van Der Merwe
Eltham (Melbourne)-based artist, Rochelle van der Merwe, has been a fine art, intimate events and portrait photographer since 2013 and a contemporary collage artist since 2020.
Born and raised in a small Zululand town in South Africa in the mid-70’s, she found solace and beauty in books, and the surrounding wild beaches and bushveld, a constant whilst growing up in a political landscape she could really never make sense of.
Rochelle’s work creates a portal to a wondrous, fantastical world that celebrates the powerful healing nature of simple, mostly every-day pleasures, transcending external societal values, such as status, race and gender.
Apart from national South African newspaper, The Rapport, Rochelle’s portraiture photography has also recently been featuring in Australian media, such as The Age, The Weekend Australian Review and The Big Issue.
Rochelle’s been a two-time winner of Montsalvat’s Art Festival Photography competition (2015 & 2017).
ABOUT ME:
Rochelle Van Der Merwe is a multidisciplinary artist with a special interest in storytelling through the Written Word, Contemporary Collage and Fine Art Photography.
She creates original contemporary collage art pieces for exhibitions and sell limited- edition archival fine art prints
Rochelle believes that working with her hands is essential to connecting her back to a centre of calm. She offers workshops, term classes, private bookings and collaborations with learning institutions and other projects:
How Rochelle creates each contemporary collage piece - in her own words:
"For my contemporary collage pieces, I use my fine art photos in the middle, then cut pieces from vintage children’s storybooks, encyclopaedias, National Geographics, art magazines & books, almanacs, old greeting cards and all sorts of unique paper paraphernalia that resonate with a sense of otherworldly nostalgia and dreamscaping, resulting in a rich, visual story.
Contact
storyholding.com.au
rochellevdmerwe@gmail.com
@storyholding
