Art | South America in paint
A collection of portraits of places and faces-not-forgotten, by Sarah Rose
For six months I lived my dream of backpacking in South America. I travelled with my puzzle piece, my older sister and friends found along the way; I hiked the mountains, fell into the madness of the markets and spent two months teaching in Peru.
But it was not enough to see new things and buy souvenirs. There was another way I needed to appreciate and capture the beauty of the places and faces and scenes and so, whenever time allowed, I sat with canvas and acrylics and plenty of patience. These pieces, most of which lived in my backpack for a few months, are a testimony to a place, an emotion, a window in a whirlwind.
This collection does not presume to capture the complete kaleidoscopic thrill of South America — you need tickets and a long vacation to discover that — but it is a glimpse of what I found in the five countries I visited, and the essence of my experience.
These artworks have since been exhibited in Somerset West, and the majority have been sold. Limited edition prints are still available on my website artbysarahrose.com
By the Seaside
“I cried. The first time I saw it, I cried.”
We were sitting on the shores of the Pacific ocean and a French girl was telling me about the first time she saw this body of water. In front of us, four Chilean children buried each other at varying depths — each in their own world and entirely of this place.
I waited until I returned to South Africa before painting the scene — it needed more than a rollable canvas sheet.
Golden
Paul and I were eating breakfast at a Chilean homestay when a morning light visited the passage as if it had an appointment with this hat. It was the kind of light that brought the straw to life and taught the blues to dance. Perhaps the spirit of someone who wore the hat took that moment to return, perhaps it was the way the sun felt that day. Whatever it was, it was a moment truly enchanted.
Pot of Old
This was the meal prepared by and served to a community in the countryside; a celebration of their 3000-year-old-adobe and the way they thrived in the desert with their farms and families and strawberry fields. It was a feast with the feeling of something greater than growth.
The Book Man
Paul and I passed him on the streets of Santiago early in the morning. He was reading beside a carpet of Spanish books for sale. The reflection of the morning light in his book and on his face made him look like some kind of saint. When we returned in the evening, he was still reading the same book and in the same place but it was clear that he had journeyed.
Sacred to Some
I was on an adventure with my American and Peruvian friends — driving north of Trujillo and detouring our way to a well-disguised picnic site. We passed a field of cows that made me miss the Nguni’s of home, so I hopped out the car to take some photos of the pretty faces that peered from hay piles and held secrets of their own.
Mr Ecuador
His shoulders were so haunched he seemed to hug his own knees as he sat on a park bench with two woman in red and watched an iguana in the shade. This was the strange park in Guayaquil, where iguanas and terrapins sat beside pigeons and a church watched over the scene. I wondered how many more bizarre and beautiful things he’d seen in his time.
Sarah Rose is a self-taught artist who graduated with Bachelor of Journalism at Rhodes University before moving to Prague, Czech Republic, to do her Honours in Fine Art. She has travelled between and during her studies, and much of the art created along the way can be found on her Facebook page, ARTicles by Sarah Rose. She is currently based in Somerset West.
Find more work by Sarah Rose on her website.
