My Dad lives on the Moon

This work reveals the emotional distance between a daughter, and her father who sought peace in Orania, a white Afrikaner town. It’s an intimate look at love, ideology and a segregated Afrikaner identity, in an unresolved space.

Orania – a town in South Africa bought as a cultural enclave for white Afrikaners after the fall of apartheid, where only Afrikaners are permitted to live and work.

There’s a preacher man that I call dad, that lives on the Moon. Some time ago he decided to separate himself from his Earth because he felt disconnected and scared.

He moved far away.

I was angry.

He fell sick.

I have journeyed to the moon and back and haven’t stopped. This is about my dad who seeks his version of peace in a place that separated him from me.

My father represents many things. He chose to move to Orania, drawn to its ideal of simplicity, safety and self-determination. He preaches, farms, and lives with purpose. His life unfolded during a time of his stroke and the emotional distance between us.

For me, it became a space where my Afrikaner identity has come into question.

I’m an insider because of the relationship to a culture and to my dad, but an outsider because I remain uncertain of what it means to be an Afrikaner.

This work is a personal exploration of the distance between us – emotional, ideological, and physical. It grew between a space of love and discomfort, between past and present, between a father and daughter.