A new exhibition at the Origins Centre at the University of the Witwatersrand is inviting visitors to reflect on how South Africa remembers its past.
Titled It’s noon and the sunbeam is late, the exhibition brings together a range of contemporary artworks that respond to the symbolism and legacy of the Voortrekker Monument.
Curated by Lily van Rensburg, the exhibition explores how monuments and archives shape national identity, memory and political narratives.
Rather than calling for the removal of historical monuments, the project approaches the subject through reinterpretation, using contemporary art to question the authority and meaning these sites hold today.
Visitors can expect a diverse mix of artistic mediums, including film, sculpture, archival material and print works.
According to van Rensburg, the artworks collectively reposition the Voortrekker Monument as a subject of inquiry rather than an untouchable historical symbol.
“Visitors will experience a range of contemporary artworks that respond to the Voortrekker Monument,” van Rensburg told IOL.
“When displayed alongside each other, the artworks destabilise the Monument, transforming it into a subject that invites questioning, re-examination and reframing within the context of contemporary artistic practice.”
The exhibition’s title references the famous architectural feature of the Voortrekker Monument, where, on 16 December each year, a beam of sunlight shines through the dome to illuminate the cenotaph bearing the words “Ons vir jou, Suid-Afrika.”
The moment has historically been tied to commemorations of the 1838 Battle of Blood River, once celebrated as the Day of the Covenant before the democratic era.
In the exhibition, this symbolic moment becomes a lens through which artists and researchers examine how Afrikaner nationalism was constructed and memorialised through architecture, archives and cultural memory.
Van Rensburg says the exhibition is particularly relevant for younger audiences who may be encountering these debates in new ways.
“For younger audiences, I hope the exhibition opens up a conversation about how history is constructed and remembered,” she said.
“Monuments can appear permanent and authoritative, but they are also products of particular political moments and ideologies.”
Debates around colonial and apartheid-era monuments have intensified in recent years, both in South Africa and internationally. Instead of advocating destruction, the exhibition proposes that artistic reinterpretation can create space for critical engagement.
“The exhibition is significant because it engages with the Voortrekker Monument not by erasing it, but by reinterpreting it,” van Rensburg explained.
“Contemporary art can offer another approach – one that challenges the authority of these sites while opening them to new readings.”
Collaboration also played an important role in shaping the exhibition. Several works were developed through ongoing artistic relationships and research into the monument’s material history.
One example is “Ons vir jou” (2026) by Haroon Gunn-Salie and van Rensburg.
The granite used in the artwork was cut from the same quarry that supplied the stone used for the Voortrekker Monument’s cenotaph in 1949, creating a physical link between the contemporary artwork and the monument’s original construction.
Through these layered artistic responses, “It’s noon and the sunbeam is late” encourages audiences to reconsider how monuments function in society; not only as markers of history, but as ongoing sites of debate about memory, power and belonging in modern South Africa.
The exhibition is open to the public at the Origins Centre at Wits until 14 March.
IOL
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