A giant pink fish, a national-colored airplane, a vibrant peacock, or a monumental guitar: in Ghana, the final journey can take a form that no one forgets. The fantasy coffins of Ghana, known as abebuu adekai in Ga culture, are not mere unusual objects or props for social media. They are sculpted portraits, wooden proverbs, and messages addressed to the community.
Since July 19, 2026, a major exhibition at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, offers them a new international stage. Titled The Art Underground: Fantasy Coffins of Ghana, it brings together two dozen pieces related to the Kane Kwei workshop in Teshie, near Accra. Running until September 5, 2027, it narrates how a local ritual has become one of the most recognizable signatures of contemporary African art.
Why These Coffins Fascinate the World Again
The exhibition arrives at a time when international museums are reevaluating the place of African artists, the circulation of works, and the boundary between craft, ritual, and contemporary art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is also showcasing a spectacular piece created in 2025 by Paa Joe for a musician: an instrument transformed into a symbolic envelope for the afterlife.
The visual impact is immediate, but the strength of these works goes much further. Each commission connects a family with an artist. The chosen form can evoke a profession, status, dream, family emblem, or personality. A fisherman may rest in a fish, a farmer in a cocoa pod, a driver in a vehicle, and a musician in their instrument. The sculpture encapsulates a life without the need for a lengthy discourse.
According to an Associated Press report on the workshops in Accra, creating a piece takes about two weeks, with prices starting around $700, varying based on the wood and complexity. Some forms cannot be freely chosen: the lion, a symbol of authority, is specifically reserved for chiefs, while certain emblems correspond to specific lineages.
A Coffin is Never Just a Coffin
In Ga cosmology, the museum in Santa Fe explains, the coffin serves as both a vehicle and a bearer of meaning. It accompanies the deceased to the ancestral world while publicly narrating the life that has just ended. This is why the literal translation of abebuu adekai â often rendered as “boxes of proverbs” or “receptacles of proverbs” â is essential.
The spectacle does not erase grief; it gives it a collective form. Ghanaian funerals can blend music, dance, colors, and elaborate ceremonies. The presence of an unexpected sculpture creates a moment where admiration meets sorrow. Carpenter Eric Kpakpo Adotey explained to the AP that attendees momentarily forget what is inside, admire the craftsmanship, and feel the atmosphere shift.
This idea shifts the Western perspective on death. While many societies seek to make the coffin as discreet and uniform as possible, Ga artists turn it into a final statement. The object asserts that a life is not reduced to a date, but can still produce an image, a riddle, and a shared memory.
From Kane Kwei to Paa Joe, a Transmission Between Generations
The modern history of this practice is associated with Seth Kane Kwei and his workshop in Teshie. Oral accounts reported by the museum tell that he first crafted a cocoa pod-shaped palanquin for a Ga chief. The chief died before he could use it, and his family buried him in this creation. Kane Kwei then designed an airplane coffin for his grandmother, giving her spirit a symbolic means to take flight.
The tradition has been structured since the 1950s. Paa Joe has helped carry it beyond Ghana. Cedi Anang, Eric Adjetey Anang, Jacob Tetteh Ashong, Daniel Mensah, and other creators today extend this lineage. Knowledge is transmitted in the workshop through drawing, cutting, assembling, sanding, and painting, but also through learning the cultural codes that give meaning to each form.
Paris Played a Decisive Role in This Global Story
The connection with France is profound. In 1989, the exhibition Magiciens de la Terre, presented at the Centre Pompidou and the Grande Halle de la Villette, marked a major milestone in the international visibility of these works. The project aimed to confront creations from around the world without fully reproducing the usual hierarchies of the Western market.
This Parisian recognition remains debated, as entry into the museum changes the status of the object. A coffin commissioned for an exhibition carries no deceased. It becomes a sculpture, a collectible piece, and sometimes an export product. The Associated Press reports that workshops in Accra now receive foreign orders primarily intended for museums and galleries.
This dual destiny fuels the entire power of Ghana’s fantasy coffins. They belong to a living practice but also circulate in the global market. They tell a family story while becoming ambassadors of an African creativity that has long been described from the outside. Their success thus imposes a responsibility: to admire the form without erasing the Ga culture that gives it meaning.
The Signal That Museums Can No Longer Ignore
The new exhibition in Santa Fe does not present this tradition as a frozen folklore. It follows its evolution, from the first workshops to current generations, and shows how artists respond to new professions, new desires, and new audiences. A car, a phone, or a shoe can become archives of their time as much as personal symbols.
For Ghana, this global interest represents a tremendous cultural showcase, but also an economic challenge. The value created should not concentrate solely in foreign institutions and collections. The names of the artists, the provenance of the works, and the conditions of commissioning must remain visible. The spectacular object catches the eye; the story of its creators must capture attention.
Ultimately, these coffins pose a universal question: what image would best summarize a life? By transforming wood into fish, airplanes, lions, or musical instruments, Ga artists respond boldly. Death remains a separation, but the last image can still speak, smile, surprise, and convey.
Sources
- Associated Press â Ghanaâs fantasy coffins are a colorful celebration of life and legacy
- Museum of New Mexico Foundation â The Art Underground: Fantasy Coffins of Ghana
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art â For a Musician, Paa Joe
- Kane Kwei Carpentry Workshop â history of the workshop and the abebuu adekai
