Rikus Ferreira's surreal and fantastical illustrations and multimedia works deal with identity, cultural context and "a feeling of disbelief and a type of disconnect I have with my environment."

Says Rikus: “The title of this exhibition, Varkore in die Skemer (Pig’s Ears At Dusk), refers to the Afrikaans name for a certain flower (varkoor), but the phrase “pig’s ear” also means a useless object. To make a (total) pig’s ear of something means to (totally) mess it up. Dusk implies an inevitable ending of some sort.

Pigs are often used to comment on the human condition. Idiomatic references are scattered through the exhibition: gluttony and greed, disgusting people, male chauvinists, policemen. Pigs are also viewed by certain religions as unclean. And something which is seen as impossible can be described as "when pigs fly". Winston Churchill once said: "Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us like equals."

Rikus Ferreira (born 1976) received his Fine Art MA from Stellenbosch University in 2002. He has taken part in over a dozen exhibitions and has been shortlisted for the Absa Atelier four times, most recently in 2007.