# Ghanaian Movie Poster

> Hand-painted posters commissioned by Ghana's mobile video clubs from about 1985, painted by apprenticed sign painters on stitched flour sacks to advertise VHS screenings of Hollywood, Hong Kong, Nigerian and Indian films. Often without having seen the film, artists invented gory, supernatural and hyper-muscular scenes around looming heads and hand-lettered titles, producing one of the most uninhibited poster vernaculars anywhere.

- Period: 1985–2005
- Where: Sub-Saharan Africa
- Origin: Accra, Teshie and other Ghanaian towns, painted for mobile video clubs
- Branch: Traditions & vernacular
- Also known as: Ghana movie posters, Flour-sack posters, Ghanaian video-club posters
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/ghana-movie-poster/

## How it works

- Paint on what is to hand, such as stitched flour sacks or cheap canvas, at near life size so the poster can be rolled, carried and hung outside a screening.
- Promise more than the film delivers: add monsters, serpents, coffins, flames, blood and extra weapons, and give every body bulging muscles.
- Let one giant head or looming figure dominate a smaller action scene, regardless of perspective or consistent scale.
- Letter the title by hand in bold, outlined capitals, often in a coloured band or contrasting painted border.
- Use saturated sign-painter enamels with quick, gestural modelling, letting skin, fire and blood carry the drama.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Collage & layering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/collage-and-layering/) (characteristic)
- [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (occasional)
- [Full bleed](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-bleed/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Extreme scale contrast](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/extreme-scale-contrast/) (defining)
- [Horror vacui](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/horror-vacui/) (characteristic)
- [Visual tension](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/visual-tension/) (characteristic)
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (characteristic)

### Typography
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (characteristic)
- [All caps](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-caps/) (characteristic)
- [Ornamented display](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/ornamented-display/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Full polychrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-polychrome/) (characteristic)
- [Complementary clash](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/complementary-clash/) (characteristic)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Distortion & exaggeration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/distortion-and-exaggeration/) (defining)
- [Naturalistic depiction](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/naturalistic-depiction/) (characteristic)

### Surface & texture
- [Painterly brushwork](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/painterly-brushwork/) (defining)
- [Paper & letterpress bite](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/paper-and-letterpress-bite/) (occasional)

### Ornament
- [Borders & frames](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/borders-and-frames/) (characteristic)

### Imagery
- [Painterly illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/painterly-illustration/) (defining)
- [Comic & cartoon](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/comic-and-cartoon/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Hand-painted](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-painted/) (defining)
- [Textile & craft](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/textile-and-craft/) (occasional)

### Tone & intent
- [Communal & popular](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/communal-and-popular/) (defining)
- [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (occasional)
- [Agitational & persuasive](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/agitational-and-persuasive/) (occasional)

Avoids: Generous white space, Modular grid, Straight photography, Non-representational, Flush left, ragged right, Pastel, Rational & objective

Palette: #c1121f, #f6c90e, #2b9348, #1e6fd9, #8a4b2a, #111111

Typefaces: Hand-painted outlined block capitals, Sign-painter shaded and drop-shadowed letters

Known for: Alex Nkrumah Boateng (painting video-club posters from 1985); Joe Mensah (pioneer of the detailed ‘Coastal style’); D. A. Jasper (Accra); Heavy J (Teshie); Leonardo (King Kong Lives poster); Ernie Wolfe III (ed.), Extreme Canvas: Hand-Painted Movie Posters from Ghana (2000); Baptized by Beefcake: The Golden Age of Hand-Painted Movie Posters from Ghana, Poster House, New York (2019)

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Hand-Painted Signage & Vernacular Lettering](https://stylogeny.com/styles/hand-painted-signage.md) (1800–present)
- Alike in its design choices: [Hand-Painted Bollywood Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/bollywood-poster.md) (1940–1999), 69% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Kinshasa Popular Painting](https://stylogeny.com/styles/kinshasa-popular-painting.md) (1970–present), 68% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Picó Sound-System Painting (Colombian Caribbean)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/pico-sound-system-art.md) (1967–present), 65% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Afrobeat Sleeve Art](https://stylogeny.com/styles/afrobeat-sleeve-art.md) (1974–present), 64% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Egyptian Painted Film Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/egyptian-film-poster.md) (1932–1996), 64% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Jamaican Dancehall Signs & Sleeve Art](https://stylogeny.com/styles/jamaican-dancehall-graphics.md) (1980–present), 64% alike

## Real works

- [King Kong Lives](https://posterhouse.org/exhibition/ghana/): Leonardo (Leonardo Arts), 1992, Poster House, New York (exhibition 'Baptized by Beefcake', 2019–20; lent by the Ernie Wolfe Gallery)
- [The Barbarians](https://posterhouse.org/exhibition/ghana/): D. A. Jasper, 1995, Poster House, New York (exhibition 'Baptized by Beefcake', 2019–20; lent by the Ernie Wolfe Gallery)
- [Terminator 2](https://www.erniewolfegallery.com/joe-mensah): Joe Mensah, early 1990s (after the 1991 film), Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Los Angeles (Golden Age Movie Posters from Ghana)
- [Ticks](https://posterhouse.org/exhibition/ghana/): Francisco, 1993, Poster House, New York (exhibition 'Baptized by Beefcake', 2019–20; lent by the Ernie Wolfe Gallery)
- [House Party](https://posterhouse.org/exhibition/ghana/): Sowwy, 1990, Poster House, New York (exhibition 'Baptized by Beefcake', 2019–20; lent by the Ernie Wolfe Gallery)
- [Howard the Duck (lettered 'Hoaward the Duck')](https://posterhouse.org/exhibition/ghana/): Socrates Art, 1989, Poster House, New York (exhibition 'Baptized by Beefcake', 2019–20; lent by the Ernie Wolfe Gallery)

## Sources

- Ernie Wolfe III (ed.), Extreme Canvas: Hand-Painted Movie Posters from Ghana (Dilettante Press/Kesho Press, 2000)
- AIGA Eye on Design, ‘The Over-the-Top Artistry of Ghana's Painted Movie Posters’ (2019)
- Poster House, Baptized by Beefcake: The Golden Age of Hand-Painted Movie Posters from Ghana (exhibition, 2019)

---

From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Ghanaian Movie Poster”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/ghana-movie-poster/