Zürcher Nachrichten - The women behind Zimbabwe's striking hut painting art

EUR -
AED 3.859481
AFN 71.756324
ALL 98.731551
AMD 410.573973
ANG 1.898343
AOA 958.299952
ARS 1057.5828
AUD 1.620305
AWG 1.891382
AZN 1.787514
BAM 1.965786
BBD 2.126704
BDT 125.86941
BGN 1.959578
BHD 0.396069
BIF 3111.577045
BMD 1.050768
BND 1.419397
BOB 7.30511
BRL 6.108936
BSD 1.053351
BTN 88.798959
BWP 14.389096
BYN 3.447011
BYR 20595.049833
BZD 2.123186
CAD 1.482918
CDF 3015.70356
CHF 0.930769
CLF 0.037175
CLP 1025.730425
CNY 7.626681
CNH 7.631617
COP 4607.354324
CRC 536.765442
CUC 1.050768
CUP 27.845348
CVE 110.825881
CZK 25.294035
DJF 187.56281
DKK 7.458928
DOP 63.475202
DZD 140.754561
EGP 52.127224
ERN 15.761518
ETB 131.339448
FJD 2.392545
FKP 0.829389
GBP 0.835949
GEL 2.868323
GGP 0.829389
GHS 16.589273
GIP 0.829389
GMD 74.604443
GNF 9077.02445
GTQ 8.133083
GYD 220.369466
HKD 8.177732
HNL 26.61696
HRK 7.495399
HTG 138.250992
HUF 410.051453
IDR 16731.48153
ILS 3.832965
IMP 0.829389
INR 88.571851
IQD 1379.809363
IRR 44224.189139
ISK 145.100113
JEP 0.829389
JMD 167.167612
JOD 0.745307
JPY 161.712177
KES 136.073015
KGS 91.195508
KHR 4227.434928
KMF 492.757542
KPW 945.690665
KRW 1469.37254
KWD 0.323384
KYD 0.877759
KZT 525.96186
LAK 23132.512015
LBP 94323.056453
LKR 306.507041
LRD 189.587683
LSL 19.044143
LTL 3.102644
LVL 0.635599
LYD 5.155188
MAD 10.582559
MDL 19.254813
MGA 4922.003534
MKD 61.670427
MMK 3412.852984
MNT 3570.509093
MOP 8.44098
MRU 41.88499
MUR 49.722097
MVR 16.234917
MWK 1826.47842
MXN 21.614084
MYR 4.693253
MZN 67.14173
NAD 19.044143
NGN 1768.579028
NIO 38.756512
NOK 11.690218
NPR 142.081414
NZD 1.79828
OMR 0.404533
PAB 1.053351
PEN 3.989366
PGK 4.24307
PHP 62.032083
PKR 292.554261
PLN 4.316456
PYG 8206.689576
QAR 3.842446
RON 4.977699
RSD 117.01459
RUB 110.961597
RWF 1438.192258
SAR 3.946062
SBD 8.816563
SCR 14.31215
SDG 632.036594
SEK 11.54187
SGD 1.415316
SHP 0.829389
SLE 23.854978
SLL 22034.081378
SOS 601.952158
SRD 37.295921
STD 21748.772974
SVC 9.216821
SYP 2640.085594
SZL 19.038716
THB 36.517315
TJS 11.227816
TMT 3.688195
TND 3.340977
TOP 2.461006
TRY 36.403794
TTD 7.154344
TWD 34.123163
TZS 2784.535199
UAH 43.712558
UGX 3902.826164
USD 1.050768
UYU 44.896792
UZS 13512.64356
VES 48.945141
VND 26707.891792
VUV 124.74927
WST 2.933314
XAF 659.299937
XAG 0.034685
XAU 0.000402
XCD 2.839753
XDR 0.805693
XOF 659.306243
XPF 119.331742
YER 262.61318
ZAR 19.049477
ZMK 9458.171236
ZMW 29.044545
ZWL 338.346819
  • RIO

    0.6300

    62.98

    +1%

  • CMSC

    0.0578

    24.73

    +0.23%

  • SCS

    0.4500

    13.72

    +3.28%

  • BCC

    8.7200

    152.5

    +5.72%

  • JRI

    0.1600

    13.37

    +1.2%

  • BTI

    -0.0500

    37.33

    -0.13%

  • BCE

    0.2500

    27.02

    +0.93%

  • CMSD

    0.1200

    24.58

    +0.49%

  • NGG

    0.1500

    63.26

    +0.24%

  • RBGPF

    0.8100

    61

    +1.33%

  • GSK

    0.1900

    34.15

    +0.56%

  • AZN

    0.7700

    66.4

    +1.16%

  • RYCEF

    0.0200

    6.79

    +0.29%

  • BP

    -0.4000

    29.32

    -1.36%

  • VOD

    0.1800

    8.91

    +2.02%

  • RELX

    -0.1800

    46.57

    -0.39%

The women behind Zimbabwe's striking hut painting art
The women behind Zimbabwe's striking hut painting art / Photo: Zinyange Auntony - AFP

The women behind Zimbabwe's striking hut painting art

The golden rays of the afternoon sun enhance the bold, hand-painted patterns on the mud walls of a round, thatched hut in Peggy Masuku's village of Matobo in southwestern Zimbabwe.

Text size:

Outside, at a small table with two curved seats -- all fashioned out of mud -- Masuku shows visitors how she mixes soil pigments, charcoal and ash to create the earth tones that make the striking motifs.

The 54-year-old is admired as one of the best among hundreds of women who practise the traditional art of hut painting in the picturesque granite hills of Matobo, where the rocks hold spiritual value.

The art is gaining recognition beyond this part of rural Zimbabwe, with the bold patterns incorporated into fashion and designs that are finding a small market as far away as Europe and bringing income to its village artists.

For the self-effacing Masuku, it all started when her stepmother assigned her, as the youngest girl in the family, the duty of smearing a cow-dung paste onto the walls and floors of the family huts, a traditional technique to maintain the structures.

"My stepmother would oversee this chore and make sure I did it to perfection. Initially, I thought this was abuse but I later realised it was good training," Masuku told AFP.

"I graduated to doing the hut painting, which elderly women did, and over time became quite good at it."

- International interest -

Masuku's talent first found recognition through a competition called My Beautiful Home, in which she has featured among the winners several times since its launch in 2014.

The annual event is the brainchild of Veronique Attala, a French woman who stumbled on "a beautifully decorated hut" when lost while hiking in the Matobo Hills, a UNESCO heritage site that has one of the highest concentrations of rock paintings in Africa.

Attala, who has lived in Zimbabwe for more than 30 years, was inspired to nurture the tradition and support the women artists and their farming communities.

A new project headed by the German Embassy has also started testing out the commercial promise of these designs.

In collaboration with Zimbabwe's National Gallery and Fashion Council, it has launched the Matobo Collection featuring the work of selected artists reproduced on saleable items such as textiles, flowerpots and lampshades.

The project is helping to find markets in other parts of Zimbabwe and also abroad, mainly in Germany, with the artists receiving a licence fee for their designs and royalties for every sale.

To help the women navigate issues of copyright and compensation, the embassy has also brought in intellectual property lawyers.

"The aim is to further promote the artistry of the ladies of Matobo and, subsequently, create greater awareness of this unique cultural heritage, nationally as well as internationally," the embassy's cultural attache Katrin Simon told AFP.

One of those selected for the Matobo Collection is Elgar Maphosa, who is impressed that the traditions of her community have "come this far".

"It is something that we do as routine," the 58-year-old villager said. "I never at any time imagined that I would one day get an income out of it while also learning new things."

- Younger generation -

Hut painting is an ancient Ndebele tradition in which the motifs were originally imbued with meaning.

It was a "mode of communicating the worldview or beliefs, as well as ideals and values of communities that lived long ago," said cultural historian Pathisa Nyathi.

"Over time the meanings got lost and, owing to the interaction with other cultures including Western, emphasis is now on aesthetics," Nyathi told AFP.

Emboldened by her success at My Beautiful Home, Masuku has been commissioned to paint buildings at Zimbabwe's top tourist resort town of Victoria Falls, which she hopes will lead to more projects.

Younger women are also learning the craft, including 26-year-old Nozipho, a development studies graduate and civil servant who is currently learning the art from her mother, and hopes to follow the steps of the older women in her community.

A.Senn--NZN