Pistorius sketch artist not bitter that trial is on TV

Court sketch artist Jaco van Vuuren could be forgiven for feeling a little aggrieved that South Africa’s biggest trial in decades is being broadcast live on television around the world.

But the ponytailed artist, who trained on the same track as Oscar Pistorius for a decade, says his pictures evoke the atmosphere and drama in the North Gauteng High Court in a way the cameras cannot.

“What I’m trying to do is take the viewer to the courtroom, to feel the scenario we feel,” Van Vuuren told AFP Thursday.

“I think the biggest purpose, if I can use that word, as a sketch artist is to give the whole court atmosphere.”

He does that by juxtaposing the physical angst of Pistorius — who has frequently been physically sick during grizzly testimony — against the passive demeanour of court clerks in high-contrast pencil sketches.

But it is not always an easy job for a man who has known Pistorius for years.

Van Vuuren saw the Olympic medal-winner, a double amputee known as the “Blade Runner” for his carbon-fibre running blades, regularly during the 10 years he spent as a coach at the LC de Villiers Sports Grounds in Pretoria.

“When I sat next to Oscar and he started choking… (it) was quite tough for me as well because I know him personally. You never want to see anybody like that, in that position,” he said.

Most of Van Vuuren’s clients are lawyers, judges, policemen and other officials who want sketches as souvenirs to remember their time in the courtroom.

But he hopes that the high-profile nature of the Pistorius case, which has been covered by media organisations around the world, will mean more takers for his sketches.

“People still have the tendency to have memorabilia,” he said. “Especially when it’s important cases.”

In the end, however, Van Vuuren does it for the art — and the sense of history.

“It would just be an insult or a sin if something like (the Pistorius case) is not documented in a court sketch,” he said.