Nkwenkwe Mokoena was born on 17 December 2001, and grew up in Lidgetton in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. Nkwenkwe graduated from Jabula Combined School in 2020, during COVID-19 pandemic.

From a young age, Nkwenkwe enjoyed doing art, starting as a young boy building cars using wire and making animals from clay that he and his friends gathered from the local river. He also used to sell pictures that he had hand-drawn and coloured with crayons.

Nkwenkwe found about Ardmore through his friend Abel, who is a graphic designer at Ardmore. Nkwenkwe decided one day to go to Ardmore to sell his drawings; when he got there he saw the artists doing beautiful artworks using clay and he was immediately interested. Founder Fée saw this young man and asked him to join winter school, and from there Nkwenkwe has become part of the Ardmore family as a sculptor.

Nkwenkwe is inspired most by Victor Mtshali, a fellow sculptor at Ardmore, who he is learning a lot from. Nkwenkwe considers Victor “an amazing mentor” and is always learning something new and improving his skills working at Ardmore.