About the exhibition
A collaborative exhibition with ceramicist Corinne de Haas, in conversation with her body of work Radical Containment.
Held at my home in Riebeek West, transformed into a dedicated exhibition space for the duration of the event.
Artist Bio
I am a South African contemporary artist based in Riebeek West, working primarily with monotype, ink, and mixed media. My practice explores abstraction, mapping, and memory through layered mark-making, repetition, and intuitive process.
I work from a liminal place, a space of crossing rather than arrival. The process often begins without a clear plan. Scribbles, scratches, and broken marks become a way of thinking without words, allowing instinct to lead before clarity sets in. The work sits between abstraction and figuration, asking for a slower, more attentive way of looking.
My practice draws on cartography, architectural systems, and psychological mapping. Repeated lines, grids, and fragmented forms reference both physical terrain and internal landscapes, reflecting an ongoing interest in how memory, place, and perception are constructed and held.
Early in my practice, I worked under the pseudonym Lia Elden, a name derived from my own. At the time, I was shy, uncertain, and quietly terrified of how the work might be received. Using a pseudonym gave me the freedom to experiment without fear. As my confidence grew and paint accumulated under my nails, I began to care less about opinion and more about honesty. The work was always for me. Eventually, I returned to my own name. Danielle Vorster. I am an artist.
To me, these works feel like visual archaeology. They hold traces of emotion, perception, and the instinct to find meaning in complexity. They are not conclusions, but pauses. Spaces for reflection, reorganisation, and the emergence of something quieter and more expansive.
I maintain an active studio practice in the Riebeek Valley, where I continue to develop new bodies of work and share selected pieces through exhibitions and my online gallery.
Selected Timeline
Exhibitions, awards, press, commissions and workshops. Open a year to see the entries, filter by category, or open any entry for more detail.
Work shown
Unearthed · mixed media monotype, 420 × 594 mm
Work shown
Textured & Untitled (2026) · thread and ink on Fabriano Rosapina
Vuleka, meaning ‘open’ in isiXhosa, was established in 1963 by the Arts Association of Bellville and is the oldest continuously running art competition in South Africa.
Works featured
Tide Lines · Residual Fatigue · Unearthed · Hesitation in the Lattice
Lakritz is a South African publication dedicated to contemporary art from across the country and beyond.
About the work
This mural extends my ongoing investigation into cartographic systems and organic form. The grid, usually an instrument of order and measurement, is distorted here by the very forces it attempts to contain. Colour moves across the surface as energy, as pressure, as terrain, bending the grid into something alive and responsive.
A grid covers the whole surface, but grids only really work if nothing resists them. This one gets pulled out of shape by the colour underneath it. A bit like looking down at the valley from above. A little familiar, a little off. Eight weeks, Riebeek West.
Work shown
Hesitation in the Lattice · thread on canvas, 600 × 600 mm, unframed
A geometric lattice framework holding fragmented forms, working the tension between structure and chaos.
About the exhibition
My first public exhibition, spanning work made between 2019 and 2025.
The collection traced the evolution of my visual language, from early explorations in mark-making and mapping to larger compositions examining memory, surface and the quiet residue of experience. Shown in an open studio context, so visitors could see process, materials and thinking alongside the finished work.
Work shown
Rorschach Variation I · monotype on paper, 148 × 210 mm
Studio
Full-time studio practice in Riebeek West, working in acrylic, monotype, thread and mixed media.
Scale
250 m² mural, completed in one week with the Urzil crew.
About
A pop-up group exhibition of local work, with proceeds going towards the giraffe family on Naval Hill.
About
A series of life drawing workshops open to anyone, with no previous drawing experience required and materials provided.
Held at Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Gallery House Bloemfontein, The Clarens Art Experience, and outdoor en plein air locations.
Works shown
From Embark, Symbol Studies, Cartographic Variations, Proof Series and Impressions Series · mostly monotype and mixed media
A multi-disciplinary arts weekend of exhibition, live music, workshops and theatre.
Responsibilities
Weekly art auctions, gallery operations and team leadership.
Responsibilities
Exhibition preparation, hanging and installation, gallery invigilation, catalogue sales and public engagement, and dismantling.
Responsibilities
Layout and design, copy editing and editorial oversight.
Triple major
Art History & Visual Culture · Journalism & Media Studies (Communication Design) · Afrikaans & Dutch Literature
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