See 12 Fantasy Coffins at a Houston Museum for $15
A Ghana workshop carved coffins into fish, eagles and a KLM jet, and a Houston museum keeps twelve of them in one room.
⚰️ Each Coffin Is a Portrait
Past the hearses and papal vestments, the Ghana room is the one that holds people. Twelve painted coffins stand on low plinths, each sculpted as a portrait of a life. In Accra, a coffin honors the deceased's trade, social status, or lifelong dream: a fisherman rests in a wide-mouthed fish or an ocean canoe, a farmer in a red shallot, an elder in an eagle, and an aspirational traveler in a Mercedes or a KLM jet angled toward the ceiling.
Sculptor Kane Quaye, credited on the wall as Seth Kane Kwe, crafted each piece with wood and bright enamel. Wall text explains that ancestors remain vital members of the family, and sending them off with their life's story is meant to bring blessings to the living.
Admission is fifteen dollars for adults, twelve for seniors and veterans, seven for kids six to eleven, and the doors open every day, with shorter weekday hours. Official info: nmfh.org, checked 11/03.
