Ghana's Extraordinary Fantasy Coffins

In and around Accra, Ghana, some families bury their dead in coffins shaped like a fish, a Mercedes, an airplane, or a Bible. They are called fantasy coffins, and they have become famous as art. They are also a living funeral custom. This article explains what they are and where they came from.

What are fantasy coffins?

Coffins built to tell a story about the person. The Ga people, who live around Accra, call them abebuu adekai, which the Museum of International Folk Art translates as “receptacles of proverbs.” Atlas Obscura says they are designed to represent the life of the person who died, often referring to work, dreams, and even faults. A 2026 report on a folk-art exhibition lists shapes including fish, aircraft, cars, Bibles, and tools that reflect the profession, status, or hopes of the deceased.

Where did they come from?

From an older Ga tradition. The Museum of International Folk Art says the origins lie in figurative palanquins, or sedan chairs, used to carry chiefs at festivals in the first half of the 20th century. The University of Cambridge’s museum says the creation of figurative coffins is generally credited to Seth Kane Kwei (1922 to 1992) and his brother Ajetey, both carpenters in Teshie. It says they made an airplane coffin to bury their grandmother, began making these coffins in the early 1950s, and that by the 1960s their use in Ga burials had become widespread.

Who really invented them?

Accounts differ. Wikipedia notes that an anthropologist has published a different story of their origin. It says another artist, Ataa Oko, may have begun making them around 1945. It adds that at first they were used only by traditional chiefs. The 2026 exhibition report cautions that claims that Kwei simply invented the form need care, because Smithsonian research records competing oral histories.

Why do the Ga make them?

Because funerals matter. The British Museum says the Ga revere deceased ancestors and give prime importance to funeral celebrations, and became known from the early 1950s for developing a new tradition of carved figurative coffins.

Who makes them today?

Several workshops. The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco notes that Kwei belonged to a royal clan of the Ga. It adds that his coffins are pieced together like furniture rather than carved from one piece of wood. His workshop, one of almost a dozen in Ghana specializing in these coffins, is run by his grandson, Eric Adjetey Anang. Paa Joe, who trained with Kwei, is also a leading maker, according to the Cambridge museum. For comparison with other customs, see Death Around the World.