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Ghana’s Wildly Creative Hand-Painted Movie Posters That Reimagined Hollywood Blockbusters

January 15, 2025
Frank

During the 1980s and 1990s, Ghanaian artists created vibrant hand-painted movie posters to promote Hollywood blockbuster films. These posters served as promotional material for mobile cinemas that flourished in Ghana between the 1980s and 2000. 

These wildly imaginative posters were a testament to a once-thriving industry: the “Ghanaian Mobile Cinema.” This industry emerged in the late 1980s when Ghanaian entrepreneurs established video clubs. Equipped with televisions, VCRs, VHS tapes, and portable generators, these entrepreneurs traveled throughout Ghana, setting up makeshift screening areas in villages with limited or no electricity. These video clubs also operated more permanent theaters in major cities like Accra, Cape Coast, and Kumasi.

The unique aspect of these posters lies in the fact that the artists were given very little information about the films they were illustrating because often times they did not have access to watch the movie being painted. In addition they had little access to stills or cover art to inform what they made. So they relied primarily on their imaginations, resulting in a fascinating collection of wildly imaginative and often surreal interpretations that are currently on view at the Persons Unknown Gallery in Los Angeles.

Fancy seeing Mrs Doubt Fire’s Robin Williams impaling Pierce Brosnan’s character through the eye with a Broom? Or Michael Jackson appearing as a cameo in E.T. How about Dirty Dancing, but instead of romance, it’s a blood-soaked, demonic possession frenzy? And speaking of horror, picture David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, but with Laura Dern’s Sandy Williams as a bloodthirsty vampire. Finally, reimage Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused but this time, instead of teenage angst, it’s a hyper-stylized, stoner kung fu epic. You’d see those slackers as weapon-toting gangs, throwing mean uppercuts between bong hits.

These are just a few of the thousands of brilliant posters from the Deadly Prey Gallery, a Chicago-based traveling art gallery, that the gallery has in possession of in its archives. The gallery collaborates with a network of over 10 talented artists in and around Accra, Ghana, to preserve this unique art form while empowering the creative community. The collection spans 30 years of history, with all profits from sales directly benefiting the artists.

As the Ghanaian mobile cinema industry boomed, competition intensified. To stand out, operators turned to eye-catching advertising. With limited printing options, hand-painted posters became the go-to solution. Skilled local artists emerged, adding their unique flair to each film, often embellishing scenes with extra violence, horror, or sex to attract viewers.

These posters were typically painted on repurposed flour sacks, lending them a distinctive, rugged look. Despite their relatively young age, many appear much older due to years of wear and tear from constant travel and exposure to the elements. With the rise of affordable printing and home viewing, the mobile cinema industry declined by the mid-2000s.

Today access to printing is far less expensive and home viewing has become more accessible to the general public in Ghana. Many of the same artists from Ghana’s former mobile cinema continue to paint movie posters as art with Deadly Prey Gallery on a commission basis to a growing worldwide audience today.

Deadly Prey founder Brian Chankin began his obsession with movies at age 8 when his parents rented him Armed and Dangerous on VHS. Seventeen years later he’d open Odd Obsession Movies in Chicago, a video rental store specializing in everything weird, obscure, and classic. During this time he started collecting hand-painted Ghanaian movie posters to decorate the walls of the video store, which led him to meet Robert Kofi Ghartey in Accra, Ghana. Robert worked with many of the outstanding movie poster artists in Ghana as a teenager in the 90’s. Over a couple of years, the two men became best friends, and in 2012 Deadly Prey Gallery was born with Brian and Robert as partners. The 10 artists who comprise Deadly Prey are Heavy J, Stoger, Salvation, Farkira, Mr. Nana Agyq, C.A. Wisely, Magasco, Nii Bi Ashitey, Bright Obeng and H.K. Mathias. This also included the artists Leonardo and Mark Anthony, who passed away recently.

The Deadly Prey: handpainted movie posters from Ghana exhibition runs through January 18 at the Persons Unknown Gallery in Los Angeles.

Scroll down to view a selectionon of the posters and the Ghanaian artists behind these creative posters.

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