Africa Photography : Houses on the Guinea road, Mali

I took this picture of a group of houses (a compound) in 2000 on the road to Guinea in Mali.

I had not seen houses painted like these before and I’m not sure which of Mali’s ethnic groups they belong to. The paint is a kind of coloured mud which is painted onto the dried mud wall. Notice also the style of the thatching on the roofs. I’m not sure what the small hut in the centre is, perhaps it is to house chickens?

Books

• African Architecture: Evolution and Transformation

• Butabu: Adobe Architecture of West Africa