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2.673

Joseph Tetteh-Ashong

  • Skill Category: Sculptors
  • Present Address: Accra, Ghana
  • Country: Ghana
  • Social media:

Biography

Paa Joe (with family name Joseph Tetteh-Ashong) is a Ghanaian figurative palanquin and fantasy coffin artist born 1947 at Akwapim in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Paa Joe is considered one of the most important Ghanaian coffin or abebuu adekai (“proverb boxes”) artists of his generation. He has been involved in the international art world since 1989, and has been included in major exhibitions in Europe, Japan, and the USA. His fantasy coffins are in the collections and on permanent display in many art museums worldwide, including the British Museum in London, the Brooklyn Museum in New York, the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka and many others as well as the private collections of foreign dignitaries. Paa Joe is building an Art academy and gallery to support the community and art students across the globe Paa Joe with a sandal coffin in collaboration with Regula Tschumi for the Kunstmuseum Berne 2006. Paa Joe began his career with a twelve-year apprenticeship as a coffin artist in the workshop of Kane Kwei (1924–1992) in Teshie.[8] In 1976, Paa Joe started his own business in Nungua. He trained many young artists like Daniel Mensah, Eric Kpakpo, or Kudjoe Affutu who have also become very successful fantasy coffin artists. In 2008, Paa Joe moved his workshop from Nungua to kPobiman (Greater Accra) where he works with his son Jacob and several other collaborators. In 2013, Paa Joe was invited for a six-week residency to Nottingham, Great Britain and he has taken part in many art residences.

News / Ranking / Titbits / Awards

In 2020 the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia exhibited new work by Joe of Gold Coast fortresses. The exhibit featured seven buildings that served as the way stations for Africans who were sold into slavery, put on ships, and sent to the Americas and the Caribbean in the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries. The works are large, painted wood architectural sculptures and include the Cape Coast Castle, Fort Orange, Christiansborg Castle, Fort Patience, and Fort St. Sebastian. The process of making the works included visits to the sites, taking pictures, and drawing sketches.

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