'Ons vir jou': A photographic journey through South Africa's Reconciliation Day

Local artists Lily van Rensburg and Haroon Gunn-Salie's photographic artwork, 'Ons vir jou' (2025), documents the annual December 16th proceedings at the Voortrekker Monument. This day, now Reconciliation Day, formerly marked the 1838 Battle of Blood River. 

The image captures the 2024 crowd witnessing the midday sunlight illuminating the "Ons vir jou, Suid Afrika,” symbolising the end of Afrikaner nationalism and apartheid.

Van Rensburg's photography journey began in matric and intensified at university, while Gunn-Salie has been an artist-activist for more than a decade, utilizing various media including photography. 

Van Rensburg grew up in Riebeek Kasteel, and Gunn-Salie is from Athlone. 

Their shared interest in South African history, memory, and identity led them to document the Monument's December 16th phenomenon, aiming to highlight how thousands still gather to celebrate and reflect on the past.

'Ons vir jou' is part of 'A Beast with Two Backs' at the Association for Visual Arts until July 31. Curators Keely Shinners and Grace Matetoa will host a walkabout on tomorrow at 11:30 a.m.

Cape Argus caught up with van Rensburg who shared her love for art and photography and where it all began: “

“I took photography as a matric subject, but I started taking photographs more seriously at university, where I ran the UCT Photographic Society and had access to its darkrooms,” she explained.

“Haroon has been practising as an artist and activist for more than a decade. He works in a range of different media, including photography. 

“We share overlapping research interests in the structures and practices that shape history, memory, and identity in South Africa. These interests compelled us to attend and document the cultural phenomenon of the 16th of December at the Voortrekker Monument as it occurs today.”

She added that their latest image spoke of democracy.

“We hope to highlight the socio-cultural phenomenon that, over 30 years after South Africa’s dawn of democracy, still draws thousands of people from the surrounding provinces to celebrate and lament the past in equal parts,” she said.

In describing, ‘Ons vir jou’ (2025), a photographic artwork by the duo, they said it provided a visual record of the proceedings that occur at the Voortrekker Monument on the 16th of December each year. 

“The 16th of December, reframed as Reconciliation Day during South Africa’s dawn of democracy, was celebrated as the Day of the Covenant and marked the anniversary of the 1838 Battle of Blood River. ‘Ons vir jou’ portrays the crowd gathered in 2024 to witness the moment at which, at noon, a beam of sunlight penetrates the oculus in the Monument’s domed roof to illuminate a marble cenotaph 40 meters below.

‘Ons vir jou’ forms part of the group exhibition ‘A Beast with Two Backs’, curated by Keely Shinners and Grace Matetoa at the Association for Visual Arts. 

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Cape Argus