In the Accra region of Ghana, the Ga people have a practice of burying relatives in coffins that reflect the deceased’s profession or position in life, “abebuu adekai” or proverb boxes. It is thought that the dead have great power and continue to influence their relatives. The dead are honoured by being buried in a coffin that reflects the occupation they held in life as they will continue this job in the afterlife. Coffins can also reflect the status, personality or interests a person had in life.
Fishing and cocoa farming are the main business in the area leading to coffins shaped as cocoa pods, boats and fish. Local clients using cheaper materials can be charged as little as $1,000 though international clients using expensive hardwoods can be charged $5,000 to $15,000. Coffins can be styled as a Mercedes Benz or Nike sneakers to show wealth or social status. Clan totems may be represented by animals such as leopards, eagles and bulls. A person’s interests or personality can be symbolised by such diverse coffins as chillies, Coca-Cola bottles, hairdryers and taxi cabs.
This tradition is thought to have started in the practice of burying a person with a small object that was important or symbolic. Around 1950 this practice evolved into the coffin as symbolic, thought to have started by Ataa Oko and popularised with a coffin maker called Kane Kwei. The stories suggest Kwei was inspired by a chief’s burial in a coffin shaped as a cocoa pod. When his grandmother died, he decided to bury her in an aeroplane coffin to honour her interest in aviation.
This coffin art has gained such interest that many of the coffins have been on display worldwide, first at the exhibition “Les Magiciens de la terre” at the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris in 1989. Kwei trained many apprentices such as his grandson Eric Adjetey Anang and nephew Joseph Ashong, known as Paa Joe, perhaps the most widely known craftsman today. Many of these craftsmen have continued their trade and also become resident artists, international art exhibitors and subjects of documentary movies.
http://www.kanekwei.com/past-events
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy_coffin
https://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/funerals/ghana-fantasy-coffins.htm
https://edition.cnn.com/2017/12/29/africa/ghana-fantasy-coffin/index.html