Three decades have passed since Nukain Mabuza’s death. Revolver Creek has changed, the world has moved on and the original Stone Garden has now all but disappeared. Attempts to repaint the stones failed to do justice to the original art work and restoration of the site would now indeed be an ambitious undertaking. However, in one way or another, Mabuza’s unusual artistic vision has stood the test of time. I first saw Mabuza’s abandoned home in 1982. Regretfully, I never met Mabuza, but, as an artist, I responded instinctively as I walked amongst the painted stones and embedded boulders. The Stone Garden had, for me, catalytic properties. I had lived in Barberton for eight formative years of my life and repeatedly returned to the Lowveld and Swaziland seeking out, in the landscape and in cultural artifacts and structures, creative meaning and insights. In a series of artworks I paid homage to Nukain Mabuza. Over the past thirty years I have gathered information and photographs for what has become my Mabuza archive. In the three years, 1990 ‐ 1992, I conducted interviews in Barberton, Low’s Creek, Revolver Creek and Dullstroom, mainly with people who had known Nukain Mabuza personally during the years in which he created the Stone Garden. My initial research article on Mabuza and his art was published in 1992 as part of an exhibition catalogue entitled The Stones Revisited. In a revised form it was published as a booklet in 2001 The Home of Nukain Mabusa. In 1995, the international journal of Intuitive and Visionary Art, Raw Vision published my article The Stone Garden of Nukain Mabuza and in 1996, the Stone Garden was listed in John Maizels’ book Raw Creation: Outsider Art and Beyond, as one of 44 environmental art works from around the world, created by Outsider artists. In 2012, in preparation for this publication, I conducted further interviews with people who knew Mabuza and I have been fortunate to receive additional documented insights into his life as an artist, as well as photographs. In the following pages I have again presented, in a revised and updated form, the story of Mabuza’s life as an Outsider artist. In addition, in the chapter The Legacy of the Stone Garden, I have attempted to set down the Mabuza story since 1982 ‐ a story that is still ongoing ‐ of the different ways in which the artist and the Stone Garden have influenced and motivated other artists as well as designers and craftsmen. Most recently, out of the Barberton Gateways project has come an innovative and visually striking environmental statement, inspired by Mabuza’s art and the world famous geological formations of the Makhonjwa mountains which form a backdrop to both Barberton and the original Stone Garden at Revolver Creek.

- JFC Clarke Pretoria 2013.

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