Our Story
OUR VISION
Bruise and Arterie Galleries are contemporary fine art galleries providing exhibition space and a commercial platform for local, young and upcoming artists practicing in various disciplines, all with their distinctive unique styles.
Bruise and Arterie Galleries were established by Hanja Badenhorst, a Visual Arts Cum Laude graduate from the University of South Africa (UNISA). While working in her first profession as a medical doctor in rural South Africa, she has created a diverse body of artwork throughout her career. Her work is influenced by her daily exposure to the frailty and transience of life, and she finds herself occupied with the vulnerability and fragility of the human condition.
With the onset of the Covid Pandemic, which posed several health challenges for her personally, she felt driven to establish a commercial exhibition space for local artists. Bruise Gallery was opened on 1 September 2022 showcasing local and visiting artists’ work as well as some of her own works. Her second gallery, Arterie, was opened 1 March 2024 and is located across the town’s big white church in the tourist center of the town. The two galleries host thematic exhibitions changing every second to third month.
CURRENT EXHIBITION at BRUISE
wear —- cover — adorn
Clothing and adornment are never neutral. To wear is to signal. To cover can be to protect, conceal, or transform. To adorn is to celebrate, to elevate, or even to challenge.
In this exhibition, one can see how artists engage with these ideas—sometimes playfully, sometimes critically—exploring themes of identity, gender, culture, ritual, and self-invention.
CURRENT EXHIBITION at ARTERIE
FABLE is currently showing at Arterie
A collection of works in various media by local and visiting artists inspired by fables.
Traditionally, a fable is something we’ve come to know since childhood: a simple story with talking animals and a neat little moral tied up at the end.
The contemporary fables portrayed in this exhibition, however, ask us to reconsider that idea.
