Artefact in transit

Abebuu adekai — literally, “receptacles of proverbs,” known worldwide as fantasy coffins—constitute a widespread leitmotif in African art. These coffin-sarcophagi are used for funerals primarily by the Ga people, who live in Accra in southern Ghana, although their use has spread to Ewe, Asante, Adangbe, and Fanti as well. Manufactured in Teshie and Nungua (Accra), with some new workshops emerging in Togo, they began to be used on a large scale in the early 1960s, soon after Ghana became independent. Their origin is usually attributed to a carpenter named Seth Kane Kwei (1922–1992), the grandfather of Eric Adjetey Anang. Abebuu adekai consitute a widespread leitmotif within contemporary African art. Two main factors contributed to the rapid circulation of these artifacts abroad: they were proposed as ready-made artworks in international exhibitions; and they caught the interest of the mass-media. Several stages of fieldwork have allowed me to examine the re-creation of fantasy coffins and their creators within various social spheres, both in Africa and in the "West," where they circulate not only as a works of art. I did not observe a single object as if it were locked in a glass showcase. On the contrary, I studied the multiple and related spaces that they repeatedly occupy with an eye to the effects produced on them by these interactions.