Meet Gary van Wyk: the photographer behind 21 Icons III

In 2013 and 2014 Australian native Adrian Steirn showed with his striking black-and-white photography series 42 South African icons in a groundbreaking fashion. The photos captivated audiences with their unexpected portrayal of South Africans like former statesman Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Francois Pienaar and Nadine Gordimer.

The Citizen got a sneak peek into the third season, and Steirn has been shaking up the series. Right off the bat, the new series features 21 colour portraits of young South Africans (some of them relatively unknown) who is changing the future of the country. The tagline for the new set of 21 Icons is “The Future of a Nation”.

The new series speaks to a generation of South Africans who are now changing the face of society through projects that speaks to a new generation. Steirn has also handed the reins to Gary van Wyk, who is the new chief photographer of the series.

The series is still being documented by Van Wyk, but we managed to see the portraits and a few of the clips of the first few new icons, including performance artist Athi-Patra Ruga, rape survivor and activist Jes Foord, textile and knitwear guru Laduma Ngxokolo, ecopreneur Catherine Constantinides and paralympic tennis star Lucas Sitole.

The decision to allow a young photographer like Van Wyk to capture the new icons makes sense, as there is a youthful bravado in the way he approached the first few portraits. Van Wyk’s journey as a photographer began during an internship at Independent Newspapers in 2003. Still a student at the time, he was quickly hired and started to work as a full-time photographer for the news group.

Since then, working both for various media houses and in his own capacity, Van Wyk’s images have appeared in numerous local and international publications. He has gained access to some of the 21st century’s most significant people, travelling across the globe while on assignment. Nelson Mandela, Oprah Winfrey and Desmond Tutu are among Van Wyk’s most notable subjects, and he has worked in locations as remote and diverse as Nepal, New York, the Amazon rainforest and the mountains of the Caucasus.

In recent years Van Wyk has been a crucial part of 21 Icons Seasons 1 and 2, capturing the nuances and intimate moments of each shoot in his distinctive style. In Season 3, Van Wyk takes over from Adrian Steirn as the principal portrait photographer for the season, making a departure from the black-and-white photographs that defined past seasons by choosing to shoot each portrait in colour.

21 Icons’s purpose is to provide a platform for stories that showcase the tremendous passion and infectious candour of the Icons. South Africa’s youth need role models, and these icons demonstrate that small achievements have the ability to transcend barriers and overcome adversity. They prove that, collectively, we can move humanity forward and the future is now in their grasp.

Season three debuts on Sunday, September 6 and runs for 21 weeks on SABC 3. Each three-minute clip airs on Sundays at 7.27pm.