Mud paintings go global

Reproduced on saleable items for overseas market

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.

Outside, at a small table with two curved seats—all made 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 practice the traditional art of hut painting in the 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 in Europe and bringing income to its village artists.

For 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.

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