Running shoe

Samuel Kane Kwei (born in 1954, Teshie, Ghana) upholds his father’s tradition of decorating coffins in a manner which reflect upon the life of the deceased. Kane Kwei (1922-1992) was trained as a cabinet maker, and in 1951 he opened his own workshop in Teshie, a fishing village on the outskirts of Accra. He built his first decorated coffin—in the shape of a dugout—for one of his uncles, a fisherman who had owned flotilla of them. He dedicated himself from then on to this new funerary art and worked, secluded, almost exclusively for the elders of his clan. The art dealer Vivian Burns introduced his work to American audiences in 1974; over the last thirty years his sculptures and those of his workshop have made an original contribution to the tradition of funerary cults in Western Africa—they have also been collected and exhibited internationally.

Samuel was trained in his father’s workshop, along with other apprentices, and he has made coffins that closely follow his father’s prototypes. For example, Kane Kwei had first carved an onion-shaped coffin for one of the village elders who had made a fortune in growing onions, a staple of the local diet, and Samuel has continued to produce coffins in this form. Another popular form that has been carried down from father to son is that of a white Mercedes Benz, originally conceived as a coffin for an owner of a fleet of taxis, but also used for other wealthy customers. However, Samuel Kane Kwei has also explored other possibilities, creating sculptures that reflect upon more up-to-date aspects of popular culture and daily life. He has also worked freely for more Western clients, creating sculptures that are not intended for funerary use.