Ndebele Art

I was strolling in Page One and flipping books. I came across a few interesting books, one of which is a illustration of the house paintings of Ndebele.

Ndebele is a tribe in the central plain of South Africa. The women started painting on their war as an expression of their grief over a defeat from a neighboring tribe Boer back in the 18th century. The art passed down through the mothers, and a well-painted periphery is a show-off of the good wife and mother residing inside.

The book I came across is named Ndebele: The Art of an African Tribe, illustrated and written by Magaret Countney-Clarke, a photojournalist who has devoted much of her career to the people and culture of Africa. It was first published in 1986 and that was a new edition I was reading. I was so impressed by the coloration and geometric features of those house paintings. As wikipedia put it:
The patterns and symbols can be seen today with a rich black outline and a vivid color inside. There are five main colors represented in these wall paintings which are: red and dark red, yellow to gold, a sky blue, green, and sometimes pink. The colors give an intensified symbolic meaning to the Ndebele. They can mean status or power of the home's owners, offer prayer, announce a marriage in the home, or can even represent a current protest. These wall painting express an abstract meaning with no real reference to any specific characteristic of their homes.

Although the author states clearly that the book is not intended to be an anthropological study but a plain record of the form of art, the book indeed inspires people to pay more attention to this unique and colorful form of art, which is one of a few living art in Africa.