This is how we came across the artwork of Maphoso George Mokwena, a 23-year-old artist from Lephalale in Limpopo. In November 2020, George posted a picture on his Twitter account – of a beautiful painting he’d done of Elegant Fuel Lephalale – and tagged us. It caught our eye, and that one tagged post led to a massive opportunity for the young virtuoso.
George considers himself a full-time artist and is known in his community for his paintings. After failing to qualify for a Bachelor of Arts in 2017, he started his creative journey and began to paint full-time. He mostly loves to paint landscapes and feels freedom in choosing the colours that make images his own.
At Elegant Fuel, we work to uplift surrounding communities – our stations create sustainable jobs in these communities, empowering people to positively influence their own circumstances. And this was the case with George.
We were so impressed by his painting that we decided to make contact, and offered to buy it – and it has been framed and is on display at our Elegant Fuel Lephalale station. We discovered that George is from a disadvantaged background and had been asking for art supplies through his online community, and we wanted to help.
Elegant Fuel director, Ryno Strydom, decided on assisting George in the long term, by giving him the chance to empower himself through higher education – and so we set about finding a suitable art school for him.