Kane Quaye. Mercedes Benz coffin. Kane Quaye Ghanaian, - Why is a car replica in an art museum? Is the artist making a critical comment about luxury cars? Or is he paying homage to an icon of the late twentieth century? At nine feet long sliced horizontally , this replica of a Mercedes Benz is basically a large box. Slide the top off and inside is an upholstered interior with a pillow, where a person's body can be laid to rest.
The license plate on the back tells us exactly what the replica is and who made it. Presenting this coffin as a sculpture raises curiosity and concerns about the ways that art helps people cope with death. Visit the other pages about the Mercedes Benz coffin to view other types of coffins, explore ways artists around the world depict death, and learn how the custom-coffin business in Ghana functions today. Gift of Dr.
Oliver E. When death strikes in Ghana, those who can afford to choose a coffin, organize feasts and hire orchestras whose music helps see off the deceased in style. Mourning turns to celebration as the coffin is carried to all the places that the deceased would want to say goodbye to. Praise salutes, blessings, prayers and hymns fill the air as the coffin is taken to a burial site. This manner of acknowledging death is one of many that involve art. In some communities, a figure memorializing or in honor of the deceased is buried or burned, concluding one phase of the grieving process.
In other communities, a portrait keeps the person's image and memory alive forever. Certain artists depict death by capturing reactions to its news; others create imaginary visions of its presence.
Funerary stele of Djefi and his wife , B. Funerary stele of the house-mistress Udjarenes , B. While based in part on more idealized Greek precedents, the "warts and all" authenticity of Roman portraits from the Republican period onward shows a modern audience the true faces of our Roman forebears.
