In Bloodywood, the Kunsthal presents the unique collection of hand-painted film posters of Mandy Elsas, which he has collected during his many visits to Ghana. Starting in the 1980s, these brightly coloured paintings were made to order by street artists to advertise usually violent video films in the many makeshift cinemas that Ghana had at the time.
Local painters put their own interpretations of each film on the posters. They are a typically Ghanaian phenomenon. The illustrations, painted on the inside of flour sacks, tell a story and are often extreme or bizarre. Over the years Elsas’ collection has grown to more than 750 items and has already become an important historical document. The bright hand-painted posters in oils have now been replaced by the pale tints of faded print. The Kunsthal will show some eighty of them this summer.
The comprehensive publication Bloodywood, with approx. 200 illustrations and detailed background information, will be published to accompany the exhibition.
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