The Pink House

Always amuses me the colours people paint there houses.

In the 18th century the Ndzundza Ndebele people of South Africa created their own tradition and style of house painting. Until the late 1900s, the Nguni people were very fierce warriors and large landowners. In the autumn of 1883, they went to war with the neighboring Boer workers. The loss of the war brought on a harsh life and horrible punishments for the Ndebele. Through those hard times expressive symbols were generated by the suffering people expressing their grief. These symbols were the beginning of the African art known as Ndebele house paintings.