Ghanaian Movie Poster

Six feet of canvas, and every inch of it raising its voice.

Ghana, the late 1980s. A cottage industry called mobile cinema had entrepreneurs traveling from village to village with a TV, a VCR and a portable gas generator, showing movies. The posters that drew the crowd are now recognized as a distinctive form. They almost always present a lurid, colorful patchwork of images. Melodramatic, sometimes grotesque, downright ludicrous. Unfailingly memorable.

This one dates to the 20th century and measures forty-five inches across by six feet tall.

Pair it with very good lighting and a very straight face.