Ghana’s hand-painted film posters go from street ads to high art

In a small workshop in Teshie, near Accra, artist Jeaurs Affutu—known as Heavy J—dips his brush into red oil paint and adds a bloody knife to a flour-sack canvas. The film he is advertising? The Little Mermaid. His poster shows a skull and a menacing figure, far from Disney’s gentle tale. ‘We add more to make people interested,’ he says. For decades, Ghana’s hand-painted film posters were the vibrant, often fantastical face of video clubs, but today they are becoming high-value collectible art.

The golden age of Ghanaian film posters

From the late 1970s to the early 2000s, hand-painted posters were a staple of Ghana’s film culture. They advertised screenings at neighbourhood venues known as video clubs, where organizers quickly realized that original Hollywood posters failed to draw crowds. So local artists were hired to create their own versions—often wildly unfaithful to the actual movies. Plot lines were mere starting points for humorous, surreal, and sometimes violent reinterpretations. Artists from different video clubs competed to produce the best ‘forgery’, as they called their works. These posters might feature exaggerated action, extra blood, or bizarre elements that bore little connection to the film itself.

Decline and rediscovery

The practice began to wane around the turn of the century as more Ghanaians gained access to electricity and their own television sets and VCRs. Many video clubs closed, and poster artists pivoted to other work. Yet the posters had already attracted global interest, appearing in books and foreign exhibitions. Old and rare paintings became prized collectibles. In the early 2000s, demand for newly painted posters faded, but online marketing and a receptive Western audience of film lovers have revived interest.

Deadly Prey Gallery: preserving a tradition

Robert Kofi, a Ghanaian who once worked as a ‘hype man’ for video centres in Winneba, co-founded Deadly Prey Gallery with Chicago video store owner Brian Chankin in 2012. The gallery works with 15 artists, including Heavy J, connecting them to online customers. Kofi acts as manager and editor—he picks the best artist for each commission, shares his vision, and checks works in progress. Most orders come from the United States, with the highest demand for old action, science fiction, and horror films like The Exorcist and the Star Wars and Terminator franchises. Commissioned pieces start at $600.

Artists at work

In Ashaiman, artist Benjamin Amartey—known as Stoger—was recently painting a poster for Poltergeist and another for the experimental drama Gummo. Each work is a labour of love, preserving a tradition that once thrived on Ghana’s streets. The artists take pride in their craft, even if their interpretations stray far from the source material. Heavy J, now in his fourth decade of painting, continues to innovate, blending his own imagination with client expectations.

Future of a unique art form

As global demand grows, Deadly Prey Gallery is helping to ensure that this distinctly Ghanaian art form does not disappear. Kofi sees the posters not just as nostalgic artefacts but as living, evolving works of art. ‘We are preserving a tradition,’ he says. With new commissions flowing in from collectors and film enthusiasts, the hand-painted poster is gaining a second life—from street advertisement to gallery wall.