Holy Rosary matric freezes Gaza tragedy through powerful art
With a powerful Gaza-inspired portfolio, Holy Rosary’s Aathika Khan achieved the highest visual arts mark in the Class of 2025.
In an era where digital headlines often flicker and fade, Aathika Khan, a standout graduate of Holy Rosary’s Class of 2025, used her final matric art portfolio to freeze time.
She forced the viewer to look at the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Achieving a 91% for visual arts, the highest in the grade, and earning a place in the school’s top 20 learners, Aathika’s work transcends the classroom.
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Her achievement comes as part of a historic year for Holy Rosary School, which is celebrating its 85th Jubilee.
The class of 2025 has emerged as the strongest-performing matric cohort in the school’s history, achieving a 100% matric pass rate and a 100% bachelor’s degree pass rate.
Aathika earned an overall average of 81% and four distinctions in visual arts, history, life orientation, and Afrikaans.
Aathika’s primary piece, titled “Ghayb: Stillness in a Burning City,” is a masterful exploration of the “unseen”.
As a Muslim herself, this topic is deeply personal, driving her to give a voice to the suffering she witnessed from afar.
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The composition is anchored by a brightly coloured mosque, a symbol of beauty, faith, and resilience, which emerges from the ruins.
Aathika uses heavy textures and the visual representation of discarded items to mirror how human lives in conflict zones are often treated as disposable.
“My intention was to show the contrast between destruction and resilience,” Aathika explained.
“The textures express memory and absence. While the mosque symbolises the endurance of faith, hidden truths of oppression and survival lie beneath the layers of destruction.”
Aathika’s portfolio extends into a hauntingly technical series of charcoal drawings focusing on the eyes of various witnesses.
By using herself and her family members as models, she grounds a global tragedy in a personal, intimate reality.
Each pupil reflects microscopic details that tell a story:
Colleen von Aulock, head of the visual arts department at Holy Rosary, expressed immense pride in Aathika’s achievement.
She said, “Aathika is an exceptionally talented young artist. To see someone so young engage with such complex humanitarian themes with this level of technical skill and emotional depth is truly remarkable.”
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High School principal Belinda Damhuis noted that these historic results serve as a fitting tribute to the school’s 85th Jubilee, with every student embodying the 2025 theme of ‘Thrive’.
As Aathika and her peers move into their post-school careers, they carry with them the Holy Rosary spirit, which is a blend of academic rigor and compassionate sisterhood.
