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 never make sense of.



From her studio in Montsalvat, 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 been featured 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), has taken part in numerous group exbibitions and had her first solo exhibition at Montsalvat in Nov 2022.