In some regions of Ghana, it is typical for coffins to be shaped and styled  to make a personal statement about the traits and interests of the deceased. However, I was unaware of this fact when I first came across this coffin during our night at the Brooklyn Museum. I simply saw it as this extremely small coffin in the shape of a Nike sneaker.

I became especially confused when finding out that this piece of art was in the Arts of Africa collection. As a result, when I first came across it, I tended to focus more on the aesthetic traits of the piece. I was immediately captivated by the amount of detail put into this object made out of wood, metal, and pigment. Perhaps the only two things separating this coffin from an actual shoe from Nike was the size of the coffin and the actual texture of the piece, which seemed to look more like plaster.

The piece caught my eye not necessarily because it was large but because it was not large enough. The coffin seemed to be less than four feet long and three feet wide (and definitely had less space than that inside of it). That pretty much indicated that this coffin probably was not intended to actually serve its original purpose but be more of a piece of art.

In terms of what the coffin itself represented, the sculptor, Paa Joe, said that it stands as a symbol of status and modernity in the late twentieth century. According to Ghanian beliefs, the coffin represents an object of interest to the deceased so that it can serve as comfort for the deceased to pass on to the next world. However, for me, the coffin is more of an aesthetically pleasing piece rather than an object that serves as a bridge to the next world.