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In conjunction with April’s Cinedelphia Film Festival, PhilaMOCA is proud to announce a month-long exhibition of hand-painted Ghanaian movie posters on loan from Chicago’s Deadly Prey Gallery! The exhibit will be open to the public on Wednesday, April 6 from 6-9 PM and on display throughout the Cinedelphia Film Festival (April 7-23).
Hand-painted on bound flour sacks by local artists, these posters were created as a cheap and convenient way of advertising and have since achieved cult status amongst collectors of offbeat folk art. Misspellings, cartoonish violence, and the collaging of elements from entirely unrelated films are common on these pieces; the art itself ranges from the beautiful to the bizarre. Sometimes haunting, sometimes hilarious, there’s nothing like the commercially-driven outsider art that is the Ghanaian movie poster.
History of the Ghanaian movie poster:
These posters were once the product of a much larger industry known as the “Ghanaian Mobile Cinema”. This business started in the late 1980’s when artistic industrious groups of people formed video clubs. With a television, VCR, VHS tapes, and a portable generator they’d travel throughout Ghana setting up make-shift screening areas in villages void of electricity. An interesting selection of movies became popular because of this trade including both Hollywood action and horror, low budget American schlock, Bollywood films, Hong Kong martial arts movies, and native Ghanaian and Nigerian features.
As more people gained interest in this rising business, competition arose. Mobile cinema operators found a need to set their products apart, so an advertising motif came into play. With no affordable access to printing, the hand-painted movie poster was the most logical advertising vehicle. Skilled local artists were now part of this growing entertainment industry in Ghana, and they surely brought their own distinct touch to each film they were called upon to promote. By sewing together two used flour sacks, a perfect sized canvas for a movie poster was created. Each unique poster varies in size ranging from 40 – 50 in. width x 55-70 in. height. The ruggedness of these posters is immediately noticed. Though a specific poster might only be 10-20 years old, it’s appearance will far surpass it’s actual age due to the elemental toll one takes from constant transit, being rolled, folded, left in the sun, rain, etc.
Today, access to printing is far less expensive and movies have become more accessible to the general public in Ghana. The mobile cinema has all but passed away, but these hand-painted movie posters remain a wonderful, tangible product of the time.
The Chicago-based Deadly Prey Gallery is a space dedicated to West African poster and sign art, created by brother & sister duo Brian and Heidi Anne Chankin.
http://www.deadlypreygallery.com/
About:
The Cinedelphia Film Festival is Philadelphia's alternative celebration of film that pays tribute to everything from locally shot rarities to video era oddities. It is organized in-house by PhilaMOCA head Eric Bresler and a small team of discerning film lovers.
The Philadelphia Mausoleum of Contemporary Art (PhilaMOCA) is a multi-award-winning art and event space housed in a 100-year-old former showroom for mausoleums. In 2015 it was named one of the "21 Reasons Philadelphia is the Coolest City in America" by the Huffington Post and one of the "20 Best Things to do in Philadelphia" by Time Out New York.
PhilaMOCA
531 N. 12th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19123
http://www.philamoca.org
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