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Theophilus Nii Anum Sowah
Theophilus Nii Anum Sowah (born 1968) is a Ghanaian figurative palanquin and fantasy coffin artist. Nii Anum was the chief apprentice in the Kane Kwei Carpentry Workshop where he worked ahead of other artists like Paa Joe. Ever since Kane Kwei's death in 1992, Nii Anum has run his own workshop based in Accra. His work has spanned from the more conventional forms, such as cars, fish, and vegetables to more creative forms including political messages, pop culture iconography, and biblical creatures of the apocalypse Apocalypse () is a literary genre in which a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary. The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys, and they typically feature symbolic imager .... His works have been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world. References Carpentry Coffins Ghanaian artists 1968 births Living people {{Ghana-bio-stub ...
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Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina Faso in Burkina Faso–Ghana border, the north, and Togo in Ghana–Togo border, the east.Jackson, John G. (2001) ''Introduction to African Civilizations'', Citadel Press, p. 201, . Ghana covers an area of , spanning diverse biomes that range from coastal savannas to tropical rainforests. With nearly 31 million inhabitants (according to 2021 census), Ghana is the List of African countries by population, second-most populous country in West Africa, after Nigeria. The capital and List of cities in Ghana, largest city is Accra; other major cities are Kumasi, Tamale, Ghana, Tamale, and Sekondi-Takoradi. The first permanent state in present-day Ghana was the Bono state of the 11th century. Numerous kingdoms and empires emerged over the centuri ...
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Figurative Palanquin
A figurative palanquin connected with the totem of its owner is a special kind of litter used in the Greater Accra Region in Ghana. These palanquins called in the Ga language belong to the royal insignias and are used only by the Ga kings or ''mantsemei'' and their sub-chiefs when they are carried in public at durbars and festivals like ''Homowo''. With these figurative palanquins the Ga create ethnic differences between themselves and their Akan neighbours that only use simple boat- or chair-shaped litters. Significance A Ga chief whose clan uses the lion as a totem must therefore use a litter in the form of a lion. The totems and family symbols of the Ga represent animals, plants or objects. All of them are associated with the history of the clan and his ancestors. When a chief is carried in such a figurative palanquin, using his totem symbol ensures protection by the spirits and the ancestors which are connected with the respective symbol. At the same time the totem's ma ...
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Fantasy Coffin
Fantasy coffins or figurative coffins, also called “FAVs” (fantastic afterlife vehicles) and ''custom'', ''fantastic'', or ''proverbial coffins'' (), are functional coffins made by specialized carpenters in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. These colorful objects, which developed out of figurative palanquins, are not only coffins but considered works of art. They were shown for the first time to a wider Western public in the exhibition at the '' Musée National d'Art Moderne'' in Paris in 1989. The seven coffins shown in Paris were made by Kane Kwei (1922–1992) and his former assistant Paa Joe (b.1947). Since then, coffins by Kane Kwei, his grandson Eric Adjetey Anang, Paa Joe, Daniel Mensah, Kudjoe Affutu, Theophilus Nii Anum Sowah, Benezate, and other artists have been displayed in international art museums and galleries around the world. Origin and meaning Fantasy coffins are mainly used by the southern Ghana-based Ga people because of their religious belief ...
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Kane Kwei Carpentry Workshop
The Kane Kwei Carpentry Workshop is a studio established in Teshie, Ghana, since the 1950s. It is known for its design coffins that became symbolic of African artistic creativity. It featured the talents of several artists who would go on to gain fame as fantasy coffin sculptors, including Paa Joe, Kane Kwei, Eric Kwei, Cedi Kwei, and the lead of the shop at Kane Kwei's death, Theophilius Nii Anum Sowah. History Seth Kane Kwei (1922–1992) was a Ga carpenter joiner established in Teshie, in the suburbs of Accra in Ghana. He was a long time considered to be the inventor in the early 1950s of design coffins or fantasy coffins, called ''Abebuu adekai'' ("boxes with proverbs") by the Ga people, the dominant ethnic group of the region of Accra. Though, an anthropologist recently published a different story of the origin of the coffins.Regula Tschumi: ''The Figurative Palanquins of the Ga. History and Significance'', in: ''African Arts'', Vol. 46, Nr. 4, 2013, S. 60–73 As t ...
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Paa Joe
Paa Joe (with family name Joseph Tetteh-Ashong) is a Ghanaian figurative palanquin and fantasy coffin artist born 1947 at Akwapim in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Paa Joe is considered one of the most important Ghanaian coffin or abebuu adekai (“proverb boxes”) artists of his generation. He has been involved in the international art world since 1989, and has been included in major exhibitions in Europe, Japan, and the USA. His fantasy coffins are in the collections and on permanent display in many art museums worldwide, including the British Museum in London, the Brooklyn Museum in New York, The Royal Ontario museum in Canada ,Museum of fine Art in Boston ,the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka and many others as well as the private collections of foreign dignitaries. paa Joe is building an Art academy and gallery to support the community and art students across the globe Biography Paa Joe began his career with a twelve-year apprenticeship as a coffin artist in the work ...
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Accra
Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of 284,124 inhabitants, and the larger Greater Accra Region, , had a population of 5,455,692 inhabitants. In common usage, the name "Accra" often refers to the territory of the Accra Metropolitan District as it existed before 2008, when it covered .Sum of the land areas of Accra Metropolitan District, Ablekuma Central Municipal District, Ablekuma North Municipal District, Ablekuma West Municipal District, Ayawaso Central Municipal District, Ayawaso East Municipal District, Ayawaso North Municipal District, Ayawaso West Municipal District, Korle Klottey Municipal District, Krowor Municipal District, La Dadekotopon Municipal District, Ledzokuku Municipal District, and Okaikoi North Municipal District, as per the ...
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Apocalypse
Apocalypse () is a literary genre in which a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary. The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys, and they typically feature symbolic imagery drawn from the Hebrew Bible, cosmological and (pessimistic) historical surveys, the division of time into periods, esoteric numerology, and claims of ecstasy and inspiration. Almost all are written under pseudonyms (false names), claiming as author a venerated hero from previous centuries, as with Book of Daniel, composed during the 2nd century BCE but bearing the name of the legendary Daniel. Eschatology, from Greek ''eschatos'', last, concerns expectations of the end of the present age, and apocalyptic eschatology is the application of the apocalyptic world-view to the end of the world, when God will punish the wicked and reward the faithful. An apocalypse will often contain much eschatological material, but need not: the baptism ...
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Carpentry
Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters traditionally worked with natural wood and did rougher work such as framing, but today many other materials are also used and sometimes the finer trades of cabinetmaking and furniture building are considered carpentry. In the United States, 98.5% of carpenters are male, and it was the fourth most male-dominated occupation in the country in 1999. In 2006 in the United States, there were about 1.5 million carpentry positions. Carpenters are usually the first tradesmen on a job and the last to leave. Carpenters normally framed post-and-beam buildings until the end of the 19th century; now this old-fashioned carpentry is called timber framing. Carpenters learn this trade by being employed through an apprenticeship training—normally 4 years ...
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Coffins
A coffin is a funerary box used for viewing or keeping a corpse, either for burial or cremation. Sometimes referred to as a casket, any box in which the dead are buried is a coffin, and while a casket was originally regarded as a box for jewelry, use of the word "casket" in this sense began as a euphemism introduced by the undertaker's trade. A distinction is commonly drawn between "coffins" and "caskets", using "coffin" to refer to a tapered hexagonal or octagonal (also considered to be anthropoidal in shape) box and "casket" to refer to a rectangular box, often with a split lid used for viewing the deceased as seen in the picture. Receptacles for cremated and cremulated human ashes (sometimes called cremains) are called urns. Etymology First attested in English in 1380, the word ''coffin'' derives from the Old French , from Latin , which means ''basket'', which is the latinisation of the Greek κόφινος (''kophinos''), ''basket''. The earliest attested form of the word ...
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Ghanaian Artists
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina Faso in Burkina Faso–Ghana border, the north, and Togo in Ghana–Togo border, the east.Jackson, John G. (2001) ''Introduction to African Civilizations'', Citadel Press, p. 201, . Ghana covers an area of , spanning diverse biomes that range from coastal savannas to tropical rainforests. With nearly 31 million inhabitants (according to 2021 census), Ghana is the List of African countries by population, second-most populous country in West Africa, after Nigeria. The capital and List of cities in Ghana, largest city is Accra; other major cities are Kumasi, Tamale, Ghana, Tamale, and Sekondi-Takoradi. The first permanent state in present-day Ghana was the Bono state of the 11th century. Numerous kingdoms and empires emerged over the centuri ...
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1968 Births
The year was highlighted by Protests of 1968, protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * January 10 – John Gorton is sworn in as 19th Prime Minister of Australia, taking over from John McEwen after being 1968 Liberal Party of Australia leadership election, elected leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, Liberal Party the previous day, following the disappearance of Harold Holt. Gorton becomes the only Australian Senate, Senator to become Prime Minister, though he immediately transfers to the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives through the 1968 Higgins by-election in Holt's vacant seat. * January 15 – The 1968 Belice earthquake in Sicily kills 380 and injures around 1,000. * January 21 ** Vietnam War: Battle of Khe Sanh – One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war ...
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