LAST BURIAL 2 Movie Poster - Authentic Hand-Painted Ghanaian Art

This hand-painted movie poster representing "Last Burial 2" vividly captures the essence of the African movie. The artist's use of bold colors and dramatic imagery showcases the intense and captivating nature of the film, reflecting the unique style of Ghanaian hand-painted movie posters.

Cultural and Artistic Significance

Ghanaian hand-painted movie posters are a rich form of African art, born from the need to advertise mobile cinema screenings across Ghana. These posters, painted on recycled flour sacks, were created by local artists for the local cinema to promote movies. This tradition highlights the creativity and resourcefulness of the artists, who interpreted movie scenes onto canvas with bold colors and exaggerated features, making each poster a unique piece of art.

With the arrival of video and video cassettes in Ghana during the 1980s, a small-scale film distribution network known as the mobile cinema was established. Local operators, equipped with a television, video player, and sometimes a portable generator, traveled from place to place showing films. To attract spectators, they needed large, eye-catching posters. Talented artists would watch the films and then create these posters using oil paint on sewn-together flour sacks. These posters often included scenes not present in the movies, reflecting the artists' own creative vision.

Due to the rough handling and exposure to the elements, many posters were damaged or destroyed, making surviving pieces highly collectible. By the mid-1990s, as television and video became more accessible in Ghana, the mobile cinema business declined, and the demand for hand-painted posters decreased. Today, these posters are celebrated for their artistic and cultural significance and are exhibited in museums worldwide.