The Media-action of abebu adekai (Ghana's Sculptural Coffins) in the World Market and Design

Abstract

Abebu adekai, literally "receptacles of proverbs", known worldwide as fantasy coffins, are funeral sarcophagi used primarily by the Ga people who live in Accra, south Ghana. These coffins rapidly achieved popularity abroad after they began to be presented as artwork in international exhibitions, and caught the interest of mass media. Through the case of Eric Adjetey Anang (grandson of Kane Kwei), the article examines the intersection between the actual production of the coffins and the international market of mass media, fashion, tourism, décor, and design. It also explores the way in which new media (Wikipedia first, then YouTube and Facebook) have given coffin producers a degree of visibility that has in turn prompted them to develop new and more effective working strategies. Moreover, the experience of digital images has deeply transformed the production process, from creative modelling to reproduction techniques. This recent phenomenon has led to a transformation: coffins are no longer funerary objects, they are actually objects for design; their producers are no longer woodcutters, but artists in the widest possible sense, and, as in the case of Anang, actors, performers, and managers.