The fantasy or figurative coffins from Ghana, in Europe also called custom, fantastic, or proverbial coffins (abebuu adekai),[1] are functional coffins made by specialized carpenters in the Greater Accra Region in Ghana. These colourful objects, which are not only coffins, but considered real works of art, were shown for the first time to a wider Western public in the exhibition Magiciens de la Terre at the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris in 1989. The seven coffins which were exposed in Paris were done by Kane Kwei (1922–1992) and by his former assistant Paa Joe (b.1947).[2] Since then, these art coffins of Kane Kwei, Paa Joe, and other artists have been displayed in many international art museums and galleries around the world.[3]
Contents |
The reason that mainly the southern Ghana-based Ga people use such elaborate coffins for their funerals is explained by their religious beliefs regarding the afterlife. They believe that death is not the end and that life continues in the next world in the same way it did on earth. Ancestors are also thought to be much more powerful than the living and able to influence their relatives who are still alive. This is why families do everything they can to ensure that a dead person is sympathetic towards them as early as possible. The social status of the deceased depends primarily on the importance, success and usage of an exclusive coffin during a burial.
Fantasy coffins are only seen on the day of the burial when they are buried with the deceased. They often symbolise the dead people’s professions. Certain shapes, such as a sword or chair coffin, represent regal or priestly insignia with a magical and religious function. Only people with the appropriate status are allowed to be buried in these types of coffins. Various animals, such as lions, cockerels and crabs can represent clan totems. Similarly, only the heads of the families concerned are permitted to be buried in coffins such as these. Many coffin shapes also evoke proverbs, which are interpreted in different ways by the Ga. That is why these coffins are also called proverbial coffins (abebuu adekai).
Custom coffins are a relatively new tradition. They have been used in the Greater Accra Region only since the 1950s. They were especially prominent in rural groups with traditional beliefs, but have now become an integral part of local funeral culture.[4]
Although for a long time Kane Kwei was supposed to be the inventor of these figurative coffins, it was demonstrated recently that there had been other carpenters making fantasy coffins before Kane Kwei.[5] The idea of making and using custom coffins was inspired by the figurative palanquins in which the Ga chiefs were carried, and in which they were sometimes buried.[6] Ataa Oko (b.1919), of La, started making custom coffins around 1945. Rumours in his hometown of La say that the idea then was taken over to the neighbouring towns and in just a few years the practice of making and using proverbial coffins spread throughout the Greater Accra region. Along with Kane Kwei from Teshie and Ataa Oko from La, there were other carpenters who started this innovative art form the early 1950s. But as Ataa Oko was, until 2002, not in contact with foreigners, he only made coffins for Ghanaian customers and thus remained unknown in Western art circles. In 2006, his work was for the first time exhibited at the art museum in Berne.[7] Uninfluenced by Western customers, Ataa Oko had developed his own form of artistic language. His work is therefore different from those artists which come out of Kane Kwei's tradition. Therefore it differs not only in terms of design, materials, but overall appearance.[8]
Paa Joe was born in 1947 in the region of Akwapim, Ghana. He did his apprenticeship with Kane Kwei in Teshie, but left his master 1974. In 1976 he opened his own workshop in Nungua. In 1989 he was invited at the exhibition "Les Magiciens de la terre" in Paris. Since then his coffins have been shown all over the world. In 2005 they were exhibited in the Jack Shainman Gallery in New York, and in 2006 he participated in the exhibition "Six Feet Under" at the Kunstmuseum Berne. In 2007, he opened a new workshop in Pobiman near Accra.[9]
Eric Kpakpo was born in 1979 in Nungua, Ghana. He learned carpentry from 1994 until 2000 at Paa Joe's workshop in Nungua. He remained there as a master carpenter until 2006 when he opened his his own coffin studio in La.
Daniel Mensah, also called "Hello", was born in 1968 in Teshie, Ghana. He did his six-year apprenticeship with Paa Joe in Nungua. He then spent eight more years with Paa Joe. Only in 1998 did he open his own studio, "Hello Design Coffin Works", in Teshie. He participated in various art exhibitions and in some European film projects. In 2011, he had an exhibition in the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts.