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

Ghanaian hand-painted film posters are gaining recognition as collectible art, according to The Guardian. These paintings boldly reinterpret the films they advertise—artists add dramatic imagery like blood, knives, and skulls to attract audiences, even when those elements don't appear in the actual stories. Painter Heavy J created a poster for The Little Mermaid featuring violence and skulls entirely unrelated to the animated film. While viewers have sometimes reacted angrily to these creative liberties, even leading to physical confrontations, the posters are now being valued and preserved as a distinct artistic tradition.

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