Kane Kwei (1922 – 1992)

Kane Kwei was born in 1922 in Teshie, Ghana. Kane Kwei worked as carpenter in Teshie, in the suburbs of Accra in Ghana. In the early 1950s he began the creation of design coffins or fantasy coffins. Since the early 1960s in the Ga country the use of these coffins during the burial became widespread and a real tradition. Design coffins are symbolic for the contemporary creation in Africa. At the death of Kane Kwei in 1992 his son Sowah took over the workshop.

Today in Teshie and in the region of Accra exist about ten carpenter workshops, which make similar coffins. Their bosses are former apprentices of Kane Kwei or his successors. Among them, we find the masterful craftsman Paa Joe, who was trained as carpenter in Kane Kwei's workshop, before he had opened his own business.

Kane Kwei has participated in major group exhibitions, including Magiciens de la Terre (1989) in Paris, Africa Explores: 20th Century African Art (1991) in New York, and Arts of Africa (2005) in Monaco.

"Coffins from Ghana", Ohlsdorf Cemetery, Hamburg, 05.06.2000 - 31.01.2001  

„Blick nach Afrika“, Coffins from Ghana, Museum for Sepulchral Culture, Kassel, 21.02. – 18.04.1999

"Time Travel - New Art from Africa", „Siemens informiert“, Erlangen, 19.09. - 16.10.1997