The bold, colorful, geometric painted walls of the Ndebele of South Africa are a women's art through which wives, mothers, and daughters exhibit their creativity, identity, and skill. Women paint their homesteads in patterns and designs composed completely freehand. Their personal dress and adornment reiterate this Ndebele aesthetic, all of which photojournalist Courtney-Clarke captures so remarkably. Her photographs, introduced by a brief essay, cover homesteads, techniques, motifs, interiors, etc. Each artist is identified; each homestead located. Recent photographs in the KwaNdebele (government-designated homeland) reveal murals that perpetuate in form and spirit a traditional art form. Nothing in South Africa today is devoid of political overtonesnot even a book such as this one which stands as poignant witness to an art that thrives in spite of tremendous dislocations, forced removals, and hardship. Highly recommended. Janet L. Stanley, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.