"[3] Her images cover the following topics: land removals, rural lifestyle, township lifestyle, gender lifestyle, United Democratic Front (UDF), anti-harassment campaign, police violence, protests against death penalty, funerals, Black Sash, protests against incorporation into Bophuthatswana; Release Mandela Campaign, End Conscription Campaign (ECC), conscientious objectors, African National Congress (ANC) Welcome Home Rally, Day of the Vow (Geloftedag), street children, and homeless people.

Gille de Vlieg was born Gillian Ruth Hemson in Plymouth, England in 1940 during a Nazi bombing raid on the city.

Her father had been sent by the Admiralty (Royal Navy) to work on radar installations at the Simon's Town Naval Base and later on Salisbury Island, Durban.

She lived for a time in Botha's Hill and Durban where she met and married Rob de Vlieg, a sail maker.

[5] While working in Tembisa, she met other members of COSAS including Debra Marakalala, Sipho (Sandile) Qwabe, Tshepo Mphuti and Reuben Mahlagare.

In June 1986, de Vlieg was arrested after a raid on her house, initially under Section 50 of the Internal Security Act, and taken to John Vorster Square and then to the Hillbrow police station for thirty-seven days.

The Gille de Vlieg photographic collection is included in the on-line South African History Archive and contains 581 black and white digital images.