For my 11th birthday, my parents gave me an Afrikaans dictionary: the Handwoordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal. The frown on my face lasted several days; especially when my school friends teased me: ‘You got a what? Oh, a HAT.’ But 41 years later I still use it: Now with nostalgia naturally, because my mother is dead and my father very elderly.
I move my finger over the thin pages down the columns to ‘nostalgie s.nw. Heimwee, verlange [G. nostos terugkeer na tuiste]’ (homesickness, longing, from the Greek nostos, returning home), and think to myself the compilers of this entry could add: like Bathoni Robinson.
Her work as stylist, art director and production designer is as much a part of our living rooms as Mrs. Balls or Ouma Rusks are in our kitchens. Productions from Griekwastad, Stiekyt, Beurtkrag, Settlers and The Ellen Pakkies Story to Vir die voëls and Modder en Bloed showcase her styling and art direction. Her handiwork has captured every era of the past century, from 1922 in Bloedbroers to 2022 in the Netflix series Justice Served.
The awards list is just as long and includes
