African Signs Book

Throughout Africa, signs above shops along the road, vehicles and walls contain colorful painted advertising and art, designed to attract the attention of passers by and potential customers. Hairdressers, restaurants, garages, butchers, tailors—many such shops began with nothing more than a prominent ad on a sign and grew into a business.

The hand-painted sign is a mostly-unheralded form of African art and local culture. These advertisements sprang up in the '40s and '50s, painted on plywood, metal, hardboard and cement walls. These are "real live" works of art executed by local African craftsmen for consumption by their African customers. Now seen mostly in smaller towns and villages, they are the physical indication of commerce between small businesses and the expression of local artistic sensibilities.

African Signs pays homage to this art form. While versions of these signs produced strictly for the export art market can now be found, the authors have gathered here photos taken on location in West Africa, supplemented with only a few from Dutch and American collections. These photos offer an exceptional gateway into contemporary Africa and show that the art of hand-painted signs is still very much alive.