Shortly after the 1987 University of Zululand Arts Festi­val, at which Saint Mokoena won an award, an exhibition of his painting and sculpture was shown with pen and ink drawings by George Msimang. George's depictions of township life were well known, but Saint Mokoena had not had an exhibition before.

The exhibition was titled Town and Country and held at the African Art Centre. George Msimang's drawing reflected his urban township life and Saint Mokoena's his country background.

Mokoena's introduction to the Art Centre had occurred some years before. Someone who had bought a rather rough painting of his on the side of the road on the way to Loteni in the Drakensberg, brought it to the Art Centre and asked whether we could in some way help develop the talent of this man.

Going to Loteni on the off chance of finding the artist on the side of the road was a fruitless exercise. But a year or two later Flicker Wright, an art teacher who lived in Himeville and had been assisting Mokoena with art materials, telephoned and asked if someone would be pre­pared to go to Himeville and see some of his work.

I was directed to his home and was met by Mokoena outside his room in a complex of mud buildings next to Bucklands Store. This modest mud 'studio' was hung with a number of paint­ings with great appeal. Some were taken back to the Art Centre to sell on Saint's behalf.

In Flicker Wright's garden were some painted wood and stone sculptures, which were loaded up and also taken back to Durban.

Mokoena is perhaps a classic example of what development can occur when a talented person working in very isolated rural conditions is given a chance through the interest of one or two people.

After the University of Zululand exhibition, Lorna Fer­guson visited Mokoena and acquired some of his work fortheTatham Gallery, as did the Durban Art Gallery and Wits Collection at a later date.

His stone sculpture Mr VIP was accepted for the 1988 CapeTown Triennial, and bought by theTatham Gallery. Mokoena's stone sculpture probably emanates from carving grave stones. Unfortunately he was unable to continue the form after he was attacked and a tendon in his hand was damaged. His paintings in water colour are of a documentary nature - large landscapes of the area in which he lives - and typified by one of his exhibition paintings Bucklands School by the Bridge.

Daily News critic Carol Brown wrote of Mokoena:

"His materials are limited by finance and availability but he has an inventive flair. Some of his wood sculptures have been decorated with melted wax crayon to give them vivid colour. The sculptures have an air of the fantastic, bringing fairy tales to mind. A Mother and Child has a Bavarian air about it-maybe an influence of the Roman Catholic Church in the area."

Saint Mokoena's surge of creativity and productivity has waned, due I believe to the fact that the early assistance he received has not continued and financial, locational and other circumstances have taken their toll.