As a passionate youth, I remained hobbled with ingrained middle class doubts about financial survival as an artist so I immersed myself in a ‘serious’ profession and became a veterinarian. While I loved working as a consultant in animal behaviour and a lecturer in veterinary ethology and anthrozoology at the national faculty of Veterinary Science,my creative spark remained dim during this time. During 2000, after a near-death cycling accident, I have taken the leap of faith in myself to become a full-time artist. My interest in animal behaviour and human-animal interaction materialise in my work. While I have mainly worked as a painter and printmaker, I have become intensively involved in the ceramic medium from 2002. (Please note there are 2 SA artists named Nicolene (or Nikki) Swanepoel. Look for me where you see animals and the second initial C. as in NIcolene C. Swanepoel.)