HUT TO ART IN ZIMBABWE

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

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Outside, at a small table with two curved seats - all fashioned out of mud - she 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 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.