LAST PROPHET Movie Poster - Authentic Ghanaian Hand-Painted Art

This hand-painted movie poster for "Last Prophet" is an exceptional representation of Ghanaian art. Painted on recycled flour sacks, the poster features vivid colors and dynamic imagery, reflecting the film's dramatic and intense narrative.

Cultural and Artistic Significance

Ghanaian hand-painted movie posters are a unique form of African art, created out of necessity to advertise mobile cinema screenings in Ghana during the 1980s. These posters are hand-painted on recycled flour sacks by local artists and serve as both promotional material and standalone works of art. The vibrant colors and exaggerated features capture the imagination and offer a glimpse into the creativity and resourcefulness of the artists.

This art form emerged with the arrival of video and video cassettes in Ghana, leading to the creation of small-scale mobile cinemas. Operators of these cinemas needed large, eye-catching posters to attract audiences to their screenings. Talented artists painted these posters using oil paints on used flour sacks, often adding their own creative twists to the depicted scenes, whether they were in the movie or not. This practice resulted in each poster being a unique piece of art.

Despite the decline of the mobile cinema business in the mid-1990s due to the widespread availability of television and video, these posters remain highly collectible and are exhibited in museums worldwide. The surviving posters often show signs of wear, such as peeling, cracking, and other damages, which add to their historical and cultural value.

Learn more about this fascinating art form in the book "Extreme Canvas: Hand-Painted Movie Poster from Ghana," which features over 350 colorful examples of these unique posters.