Paa Joe

Paa Joe

Biography

Paa Joe was born in 1947 in Ghana, and belongs to the Ga-Adangbe. At the age of fifteen, he started a ten-year apprenticeship as a coffin artist in the workshop of his uncle Kane Kwei (1924–1992) in Teshie. In 1976, Paa Joe started his own business in Nungua. He is an artist and pioneer of the fantasy coffin craft. Paa Joe is known as the Grandfather of Ghana’s fantasy coffin trade for his extraordinary artistic talent. He makes beautiful creations that are often seen by only a handful of people before being buried forever.

Exhibitions

2012 Brooklyn Museum, New York
2012 Southbank,London
2011 Salon 94 New York
2011 Jack Bell Galley, London
2011 Victoria and Albert Museum, London
2010/11 Living and Dying Gallery British Museum, London
2007/2008 Six Feet Under, Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, Dresden
2006 Melbourne Festival
2006 Six Feet Under, Kunstmuseum, Bern
2005 Jack Shainman Gallery, New York City
2003 Schokolade, die süsse Verführung, Museum für Völkerkunde, Basle
2002 Autolust, Stapferhaus Lenzburg, Switzerland
1989 Les Magiciens de la terre, Centre Pompidou, Paris

Selected Work