The Kane Kwei Carpentry Workshop is a studio established in Teshie, Ghana, since the 1950s. It is known for its design coffins that became symbolic of African artistic creativity. It featured the talents of several artists who would go on to gain fame as fantasy coffin sculptors, including Paa Joe, Kane Kwei, Eric Kwei, Cedi Kwei, and the lead of the shop at Kane Kwei's death, Theophilius Nii Anum Sowah.
Seth Kane Kwei (1922–1992) was a Ga carpenter joiner established in Teshie, in the suburbs of Accra in Ghana. He was a long time considered to be the inventor in the early 1950s of design coffins or fantasy coffins, [1] called Abebuu adekai ("boxes with proverbs") by the Ga people, the dominant ethnic group of the region of Accra. Though, an anthropologist recently published a different story of the origin of the coffins. [2]
As the anthropologist Regula Tschumi recently wrote, the figurative coffins developed out of the figurative palanquins which were formerly used like the figurative coffins in Accra only by the traditional chiefs. [2] Around 1960 the use of figurative coffins for Ga burial rites became widespread. Design coffins are acknowledged as symbolic of contemporary creation in Africa.
At the death of Kane Kwei, his son Sowah took over the workshop, then Cedi – Kane Kwei's younger child – after the death of Sowah in 1999. Since 2005, Eric Adjetey Anang (born 1985, the son of Cedi) has been attempting to revitalize the creativity of the studio by the introduction of new models, the creation of furniture realized in the same spirit and using the same techniques as for the coffins.
About ten carpenters' workshops established in Teshie and in the region of Accra produce similar coffins. Some of their masters are like Paa Joe and Tei in Dorwanya former apprentices of Seth Kane Kwei. Others were trained by Kane Kwei's successors, mainly by Paa Joe. Among them are Daniel Mensah called Hello in Teshie, Tetteh in Amasaman and Tetteh Red in Ningo, Kudjoe Affutu in Awutu, Central Region, and Eric Kpakpo in La.
The Kane Kwei workshop is deeply anchored in Ga tradition, both by the genesis of its productions, by protocols framing their local use, and by its functioning based on apprentices, who can number about ten. At the end of the apprenticeship, which lasts from two to five years, a traditional ceremony is organized. In this occasion, the apprentice has to pay a sum of money, donate alcoholic drinks, a parasol, a pair of sandals to the boss of the workshop, and then a certificate is handed to him.
The manufacturing process of coffin begins by the scrupulous observation of visual documents reproducing the proposed model, or even the actual model – that could be a live animal – followed by its being realised in three dimensions. Neither plans nor sketches are prerequisite to the manufacturing. After the coffin is built, the inside is coated with a lining. The outside is carefully polished, sprayed, and finally decorated by a painter.
Light wood as wawa (white wood) or emien is used for the coffins intended for funerals. Those coffins intended for export as artworks are made from harder and more expensive wood, such as limba or African Mahogany.
| Type | Subject |
|---|---|
| Animals | Antelope • Aulacode (Thryonomys swinderianus) • Cameleon • Catfish • Coq • Cow • Crab • Crayfish • Doberman dog • Dove • Eagle • Elephant • Hen • Lobster • Lion • Parrot • Peacock • Pig • Reindeer • Red fish • Sardine • Saw fish • Shark • Snail • Snake • Spider • Striped fish • Tilapia • Tuna • Turkey • Turtle • Whale |
| Buildings | Church • Danish traditional farm • Grocery shop • Two storey building |
| Fruits and vegetables | Banana • Carrot • Cocoa pod • Corn • Green pepper • Onion • Palm nut • Pineapple • Pumpkin • Red pepper • Sugar cane |
| Objects | 9mm bullet • Asante stool • Ballpoint with notebook • Bass drum • Bible • Bottle of beer (Star) • Bottle of beer (Tuborg) • Bottle of Coca-Cola • Bottle of soju • Bottle of vodka (Beluga) • Bottle of vodka (Stolichnaya) • Can of Aquarius energy drink • Canned mackerels and tomato • Chief's scepter • Cigarette (London) • Cinema projector • Condom sachet • Crate of beer (Carsberg) • Falling tree • Fishing net • Flour bag • "Graphic" newspaper • Guitar • Hunting gun • I-Phone • Kalashnikov magazine • Lego brick • Machine gun • Matrioshka • Soccer shoe • Spaner • Traditional sword• Spoon • Sewing machine • Pot • Hammer • Maersk container • Microphone • Outboard engine • Piano • Plane • Ray Ban case • Referee whistle • Remote control (Philips) • Robot • Rocket toy • Saw • Syringe • Soccer ball • Smith's bellows • Talking drum • Tray of frozen food • Trowel • Wad of banknoates (Danish) • Wad of banknotes (Russian) • Windmill • |
| Vehicles | 32 seats bus • Ambulance • Aircraft (Ghana Airways) • Aircraft (KLM) • Bedford truck • Canoe • Cruise ship • Fire truck • Fishing boat • Garbage truck • Luxury bus • Mercedes-Benz car saloon • Mercedes-Benz car (convertible) • Private jet • Toyota Corolla • Tractor • Volkswagen minibus • War tank |
| Others | Sun • Soccer field |
While some figurative coffins were acquired in the 1970s by American gallery owners (Vivian Burns in 1973 and Ernie Wolfe, both from Los Angeles), it is since 1989 that these objects achieved international recognition as works of art, through their successive display in exhibitions: Magiciens de la terre (1989, Musée National d'Art Moderne (Centre Georges Pompidou) – Grande halle de la Villette, Paris – Curator Jean-Hubert Martin) and "Africa Explores" (1992, New Museum of Modern Art, New York – Curator Susan Vogel). [3]
Pieces of the studio are part of major private collections including the Contemporary African Art Collection of Jean Pigozzi and many public collections.
At the initiative of the studio, artistic partnerships with Western institutions are implemented and residencies of foreign artists organized. [4] [5]
Accra is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, 20.4 km2 (7.9 sq mi), had a population of 284,124 inhabitants, and the larger Greater Accra Region, 3,245 km2 (1,253 sq mi), had a population of 5,455,692 inhabitants. In common usage, the name "Accra" often refers to the territory of the Accra Metropolitan District as it existed before 2008, when it covered 199.4 km2 (77.0 sq mi). This territory has since been split into 13 local government districts: 12 independent municipal districts and the reduced Accra Metropolitan District (20.4 km2), which is the only district within the capital to be granted city status. This territory of 199.4 km2 contained 1,782,150 inhabitants at the 2021 census, and serves as the capital of Ghana, while the district under the jurisdiction of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly proper (20.4 km2) is distinguished from the rest of the capital as the "City of Accra".
A coffin is a funerary box used for viewing or keeping a corpse, for either burial or cremation.
The Greater Accra Region has the smallest area of Ghana's 16 administrative regions, occupying a total land surface of 3,245 square kilometres. This is 1.4 per cent of the total land area of Ghana. It is the most populated region, with a population of 5,455,692 in 2021, accounting for 17.7 per cent of Ghana's total population.
The Ga-Dangbe, Ga-Dangme, Ga-Adangme or Ga-Adangbe are an ethnic group in Ghana, Togo and Benin. The Ga or Gan and Dangbe or Dangme people are grouped as part of the Ga–Dangme ethnolinguistic group. The Ga-Dangmes are one ethnic group that lives primarily in the Greater Accra region of Ghana.
The litter is a class of wheelless vehicles, a type of human-powered transport, for the transport of people. Smaller litters may take the form of open chairs or beds carried by two or more carriers, some being enclosed for protection from the elements. Larger litters, for example those of the Chinese emperors, may resemble small rooms upon a platform borne upon the shoulders of a dozen or more people. To most efficiently carry a litter, porters either place the carrying poles directly upon their shoulders or use a yoke to transfer the load from the carrying poles to the shoulders.
Teshie is a coastal town in the Ledzokuku Municipal District, a district in the Greater Accra Region of southeastern Ghana. Teshie is the ninth most populous settlement in Ghana, with a population of 171,875 people.
Articles related to Ghana include:
Owusu-Ankomah is a leading contemporary African artist with origins in Ghana. His work addresses themes of identity and the body, using his trademark motif of Adinkra symbolism. His work is also "influenced by the art of the Renaissance, handwritten texts from ancient cultures such as the adinkra symbol system of the Akan people of Ghana, Chinese ideograms, and contemporary global cultures." Owusu-Ankomah is a trained artist from Achimota College, near Accra, "established in 1936 and in 1952 incorporated into the University of Science and Technology at Kumasi."
Eric Adjetey Anang is a Ghanaian sculptor and fantasy coffin carpenter. He was born in Teshie, Ghana and runs the Kane Kwei Carpentry Workshop. He currently maintains dual residency and splits his time between Ghana and Madison, Wisconsin, where he is pursuing unique projects.
Kudjoe Affutu is a Ghanaian artist and figurative coffin and palanquin builder. He was born and still lives in Awutu Bawyiase, Central Region, Ghana. Affutu has made a name for himself in Europe by participating in various art projects and exhibitions.
Regula Tschumi is a Swiss social anthropologist and art historian.
Ataa Oko Addo was a Ghanaian builder of figurative palanquins and figurative coffins, and at over 80 years of age he became a painter of Art Brut.
The Caplan Collection of folk art and childhood artifacts is held by The Children's Museum of Indianapolis; in 1984 it was donated by Frank and Theresa Caplan, owners of the Creative Playthings toy company. The museum began accessioning the collection in January 1985. The collection consists of nearly 32,000 objects, from toys to dolls to games to musical instruments to masks to clothing to folk art from over 120 countries. The museum created a specific exhibit for the collection, entitled "Passport to the World," which opened in 1986. Initially the Caplans had intended for the collection to be the basis of a new Museum of Fantasy and Play, but this never materialized and they donated their collection to the Children's Museum instead. The Caplans spent about US$1 million acquiring the objects from around 1965 to 1985; some of the countries strongly represented are Japan, Mexico, Russia, Germany, Indonesia, and India.
Fantasycoffins or figurative coffins, also called “FAVs” and custom, fantastic, or proverbial coffins, are functional coffins made by specialized carpenters in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. These colorful objects, which developed out of figurative palanquins, are not only coffins but considered works of art. They were shown for the first time to a wider Western public in the exhibition Les Magiciens de la terre at the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris in 1989. The seven coffins shown in Paris were made by Kane Kwei (1922–1992) and his former assistant Paa Joe. Since then, coffins by Kane Kwei, his grandson Eric Adjetey Anang, Paa Joe, Daniel Mensah, Kudjoe Affutu, Theophilus Nii Anum Sowah, Benezate, and other artists have been displayed in international art museums and galleries around the world.
Paa Joe is a Ghanaian sculptor, and figurative palanquin and fantasy coffin carpenter. Joe is considered one of the most important Ghanaian coffin or abebuu adekai artists of his generation. He has been involved in the international art world since 1989, and has been included in major exhibitions in Europe, Japan, and the USA. His fantasy coffins are in the collections and on permanent display in many art museums worldwide, including the British Museum in London, the Brooklyn Museum in New York, the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka and many others as well as the private collections of foreign dignitaries. Joe is building an art academy and gallery to support the community and art students across the globe.
Daniel Mensah, also known as Hello, is a Ga carpenter and fantasy coffin artist. He works as an independent artist and carpenter in Teshie, Greater Accra, Ghana.
A figurative palanquin connected with the totem of its owner is a special kind of litter used in the Greater Accra Region in Ghana. These palanquins called in the Ga language okadi akpakai belong to the royal insignias and are used only by the Ga kings or mantsemei and their sub-chiefs when they are carried in public at durbars and festivals like Homowo. With these figurative palanquins the Ga create ethnic differences between themselves and their Akan neighbours that only use simple boat- or chair-shaped litters.
A Ghanaian film poster is a film poster hand-painted in Ghana used to advertise films produced in Ghana as well as world cinema. Ghanaian film posters, particularly hand-painted posters from the 1980s and 1990s, have become noted for their imaginative and unique artistry. They have been exhibited around the world in galleries and museums in Los Angeles, New York, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Chicago, and across Europe.
Theophilus Nii Anum Sowah is a Ghanaian figurative palanquin and fantasy coffin artist. Nii Anum was the chief apprentice in the Kane Kwei Carpentry Workshop where he worked ahead of other artists like Paa Joe.