Before export to the West African market, a vehicle may be used in Europe for as long as 15 years. Photo documentation courtesy of Jürgen Mölders, 2001 - 2009.
New owners: Mr. Awudu Rahman, trotro driver, in his van. Kumasi, Ghana 2014.
Endusers is a series of interviews, field material and testimonials from van owners, drivers, and sign writers in Germany and Ghana. By following the journey of particular vehicles from the industrialised west to the developing south, it navigates the topography of contemporary globalisation and economics through the personal experience of a shared, common object. In doing so, it also touches upon tropes of masculinity and assumptions latent in the division of labour and gender roles. Imagined as a transcontinental romance story between men who drive vans, the item of exchange and trade stands in as a proxy, which connects these two groups of people who are typically separated by class, race, and economics.
Typographic design on Ghanaian vans runs the gamut in terms of stylistic influence and execution. Some signs may be original, whereas others would make a German-speaker scratch their head.
