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

In Ghana, artists make special movie posters. These posters are hand-painted. An artist named Heavy J makes them. He uses a flour sack to paint on. He paints pictures for different movies.

But these posters are often very different from the actual movies. For example, Heavy J paints scary things like blood and skulls. He did this for a children's movie called 'The Little Mermaid'. The movie's kind prince looked like he had a knife. The skull was not in the story. Heavy J says he adds these things to make people interested in seeing the movie.

Sometimes, people felt tricked because the poster did not show the real movie. They sometimes got angry. But now, these unique Ghanaian movie posters are becoming famous. People collect them as art. This tradition of painting unique movie posters is very important in Ghana. Artists like Heavy J help to keep this special way of making posters alive. People now see them as beautiful, collectible works, even if they show a very different movie story.