‘These are our local heroes’: the artist painting murals of hope in a Zimbabwe township

Basil Matsika hopes his joyful murals of Mbare's music and sports stars will inspire others to look beyond the area's poverty and crime

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.

While many see Mbare as a crime-ridden neighbourhood, Matsika, 40, chooses to see beauty in the grimy, patched walls of the Matapi flats, which have become his canvas for his giant murals.