Sarah Rose de Villiers
South African creative
​
I am...
Journalist, writer, artist, wanderer.
​
I studied the art of language and words, and learned to paint along the way.
While I read for a degree in Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University in South Africa, I practiced telling and sharing stories through spilled paint and pictures. After graduating and travelling, I moved to Prague, Czech Republic, to do my Honours in Fine Art and then travelled for another six months. Painting, learning and teaching along the way.
​
This site is a small window into that wild journey - a gallery of canvases and creations.
Creative
Artist
Writer
Journalist
Volunteer teacher
Travel blogger
​
Art Mediums
Work experience
Freelance Artist
​2010 - present
Portraits, murals and illustrations; live sketches and political cartoons; t-shirt designs, hand poked tattoos and doodles-on-the-go.
2017 Assorted: Artsy Farty '17
2018/9 Assorted: Jar of Twenty Eighteen/Nineteen
Hand Poked Tattoos: Inked
Visual Journalism: My Black Book
Children's Illustrator: ULonwabo
Acrylic
Watercolour
Pen
Oil
Digital
Photography
... just about anything
​
2010 - present
2010 - present
Journalist
​2013 - 2016
Bachelor of Journalism from Rhodes University with Distinction, Dean's List for Academic Merit and Academic Colours
Tripled majored with Journalism, English and Philosophy
Contributed to Grocott's Mail, The Journalist, Cue, Ja Magazine, the Goethe Institut and more...
Video: Chronicled Chaos
Comic Journalism residency: Migration '16
Politcal Cartooning: Drawing the Line
​
Tutor, Volunteer and Teacher
​2008 - 2019
​
Online English teacher with Dreamen (February 2019 - present)
English and English Literature teacher at the American School in Trujillo, Peru (October and November 2018)
TEFL Teacher at the Prague Language School (April 2018)
Volunteer art teacher at Imibala Centre (Jan - April 2017)
Volunteer teacher and course co-ordinator for a Critical Thinking Skills (Basic Philosophy) course at GADRA school (Feb 2015 - Nov 2016)
Narrator at the South African Library for the Blind (2014 - 2016)
Tutored an Italian family in Milan for three months (Nov 2015 - Feb 2016)
Private tutor for primary school learners (2014)
Volunteer teacher at Macassar Primary school (2008 - 2012)
​
Trails of Art
South America
June 2018 - January 2019
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. I also painted on whatever would fit in my backpack.
Czech Republic and Hungary
September 2017 - May 2018
Moving to Prague was a grand adventure - I was skipping two years of a three year course and getting my Honours in something I loved. I was also moving to country where I knew no one, not a word of the language or how I would survive - only that I loved to wander. I was also falling in love with the puzzle piece I met in the Philippines, someone I met in Hungry eight months later.
South East Asia
June - July 2017
I spent just over two weeks in the Philippines with my younger sister (who loves food as much as I love art) and no plan, followed by another three weeks of adventures with the rest of our mad family. We were Chopsticks on tour.
Portugal and Spain
​May 2017
I booked my tickets, grabbed my ​backpack and went in search of The Great Perhaps - then found myself walking the Camino, leaving a path of petals and sleeping under the stars.
India
​December 2016 - January 2017
India was my dream before I held a map. So I finished studying and set out on an untamed adventure - a tipsy gyspy traveling by bus and train and air; from beaches, to temples, to weddings and a saint's shrine.
Cape Town, RSA
​June - August 2017
While still studying at Rhodes, I pursued a comic journalism residency in Cape Town with Kai Pfeiffer and the Goethe Institut. I gave bits of art to everyone I interviewed, kept a little journal and returned to town a little later to do live sketching at an event for East African Women, an internship with Ginkgo Agency and a mural in a high school.
Italy and Barcelona
Nov 2015 - Feb 2016
Tutoring in Milan was the perfect excuse to sketch and explore the possibilities of art, the potential of the human heart and the power of sharing stories. This was one of my first trails of art.
Grahamstown, RSA
2015 - 2016
As a journalism student, I was compelled to follow the story and sketch the scene. From political cartoons and arts writing, to protest comic reporting and conference doodling, I filled notebooks and journals with whatever art I didn't give away.