Text: Nyasha Chingono. “‘These are our local heroes’: the artist painting murals of hope in a Zimbabwe township.” https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/mar/07/these-are-our-local-heroes-the-artist-painting-murals-of-hope-in-a-zimbabwe-township
Extract: “Street artist Basil Matsika paints murals of local musicians and daily life in the streets of Mbare, one of Zimbabwe’s oldest townships, in the capital Harare. With his brush and paint jar, he says he communicates deep sentiments of hope amid the overwhelming landscape of poverty.”
The artist in this story is completely free to use the street murals to portray the history of community in any way he chooses. A historian, however, must ground a portrayal of the past in the evidence available.