But these days she pops out of the news again almost as quickly
But these days she pops out of the news again almost as quickly. From time to time we remember her, the Iron Lady. She pops into the news when she collapses while speaking to businessmen in some far- flung spot, or when some commentator notices a phrase in one of those foreign addresses that resonates against the policies of her successors. But, as the procession wended its way to the cemetery, Kane Kwei’s box coffin was followed by several brilliant examples which his sons had made for exhibition in America. Kane Kwei was laid to rest attended by a giant crab, a lobster, a tiger, a cow, a hen, a motorboat, a canoe and a Mercedes Benz, complete with number plate and leopardskin upholstery.’Going into Darkness: Fantastic Coffins from Africa’ by Thierry Secretan is published by Thames and Hudson on 12 June, at pounds 16.95. As Paa Joe had hoped, the coffin was sufficiently orthodox to pass muster with the Methodist minister and the funeral was held in the local church. Paa Joe, who now runs his own workshop, built a rectangular coffin for his old master.
In the four corners he carved a saw, a hammer, a chisel and a set square. And, in 1989, one of his Mercedes Benz coffins was displayed at the Pompidou Centre in Paris.Shortly after these photographs were taken, Kana Kwei died. Now the parrot has become a favourite model for academic families.”In the early Seventies, Kane Kwei was “discovered” by a Los Angeles gallery owner, Vivian Burns, who started to show his work in the States. They expanded their repertoire to crayfish and lobsters, bright sardines with curly smiles, and lions bearing a remarkable resemblance to Dougal from The Magic Roundabout. “The children of a well-known university teacher couldn’t decide which shape of coffin to chose for their father,” says Kane Kwei, “so I suggested a parrot with a biro in his beak. The business was now prospering, and the carpenter had a handful of apprentices, including his nephew Paa Joe, who was to become his most prominent student. Had Robert Maxwell been a member of the Ga tribe, perhaps he would have been put to rest in a rolled-up newspaper; Samantha Fox, no doubt, in a giant brassiere.In 1962, when a new port complex was built at the neighbouring fishing village of Tema, Kane Kwei moved into a new house and workshop beside a service station on the new road from Accra.
Clients came wanting coffins representing every symbol of prosperity and status: eagles if the deceased was a chief, a Mercedes Benz if he or she was very rich; but it could be a cocoa pod, a fish, a canoe, a cow or an onion – whatever had made the deceased prosperous. He began carving coffins out of a light, highly workable wood called obeche. These are complicated structures made up of some 300 separate pieces. Today, a finished coffin will cost 80,000 cedi (pounds 44), about two months salary for the average Ghanaian urban worker.At first, Kane Kwei worked only for the old people of his own tribe But his popularity grew. Ata Owoo went on to make other coffins in the shape of eagles and cocoa pods, but it was not until Kane Kwei started that carving coffins became a significant local business.In 1951, the grandmother of Kane Kwei and Kane Adjetei died. She had always dreamt of flying, so her grandsons decided to make her an aeroplane-shaped coffin.
