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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Carlos Mureithi in Greater Accra

‘We are preserving a tradition’: how Ghana’s sensationalist film posters became collectible art

Hand-painted film posters including Clash of the Titans, Terminator and Halloween
Hand-painted film posters on show at the Centre for National Culture in Accra, Ghana. Photograph: Carlos Mureithi/The Guardian

Sitting on his porch in Teshie near Accra, Heavy J dipped a brush into red oil paint and dabbed it carefully on to his canvas – a flour sack – adding blood to a knife being wielded by a man. Higher on the canvas, he had started on an outline of a skull.

Heavy J was creating a poster, but not as you might have expected for a horror film. Instead, it was for the animated fairytale The Little Mermaid. The man with the knife was not a killer but the film’s kind-hearted prince, Eric. The skull was also unrelated to the story. “We add more to make people interested,” said Heavy J, whose real name is Jeaurs Affutu.

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