2025
Buried in Style. Artistic Coffins and Funerary Culture in Ghana
Photos and text: Regula Tschumi
Design: Kehrer Design (Harald Pridgar)
Stiff softcover 22 × 28 cm
240 pages, 283 color illustrations
English ISBN 978-3-96900-185-12025
German ISBN978-3-96900-185-1
Kehrer Verlag Heidelberg 2025
Celebrate death as we celebrate life. This is the credo of the Ga-Adangme ethnic group in Ghana, whose funeral culture involves using creative coffins in the shape of animals, vehicles and so on to represent the preferences or dreams of the deceased. In addition, perfectly choreographed dances transform funerals into colourful, energetic celebrations. Regula Tschumi has researched and photographed the Ghanaian funeral culture for more than twenty years. Her images depict Christian and traditional funerals, various ways of preparing the deceased for burial, and trends in figurative coffin design over the past two decades. Tschumi also accompanied and photographed Benjamin Aidoo, also known as ‘Ghana’s Coffin Dancer’.
2025
Regula Tschumi – Bowl Carriers
Zine #188
Published by Bump Books
Edited by David Solomons
Publication date: May 2025
Size: 210mm x 148mm
Cover: uncoated 170gsm digital
Text: uncoated 120gsm digital
Pages: 32
Images: 25
Printed in the UK
Edition of 200
Metal bowls are ubiquitous in everyday life in Ghana. They are mainly used by head porters and market women to transport or store their goods. But sometimes they are used for completely different purposes, such as carrying water from the well or as a washing vessel. They are also used by professional head porters to sit on while waiting for customers, or even to sleep in. Carried upside down, empty bowls can provide shelter from the sun and rain, and children love to play and hide behind them.
2021
ATAA OKO ADDO (English)
Regula Tschumi (ed.): Ataa Oko Addo
With texts by Sarah Lombardi, Regula Tschumi, Lucienne Peiry and Atta Kwami.
ISBN 978-3-907262-05-4
Edition Clandestin
The artist Ataa Oko Addo (1919 – 2012) of La in Ghana is seen as a pioneer of the world-famous Ghanaian coffin art. In 2002, after he first met the Swiss ethnologist and photographer Regula Tschumi, the former coffin artist, now aged over 80, began to draw. Until his death, Ataa Oko produced a unique body of graphic work, that provides insight into Ghanaian culture and the spiritual world of the artist.
2021
ATAA OKO ADDO (French)
Regula Tschumi (ed.): Ataa Oko Addo
With texts by Sarah Lombardi, Regula Tschumi, Lucienne Peiry and Atta Kwami.
ISBN 978-3-907262-06-1
Edition Clandestin
L’artiste Ataa Oko Addo (1919 – 2012), originaire de La au Ghana, a été un pionnier de l’art du cercueil ghanéen, aujourd’hui mondialement connu. En 2002, aprèssa rencontre avec l’ethnologue suisse Regula Tschumi, l’ancien artiste du cercueil a commencé à dessiner à l’âge de plus de 80 ans. Jusqu’à sa mort, une œuvre graphique unique a été crée, donnant au spectateur occidental un aperçu de la culture ghanéenne et du monde spirituel de l’artiste.
2020
ATAA OKO ADDO (German)
Regula Tschumi (Ed.): Ataa Oko Addo
With texts by Sarah Lombardi, Regula Tschumi, Lucienne Peiry and Atta Kwami.
ISBN 978-3-907262-04-7
Edition Clandestin Biel
Der Künstler Ataa Oko Addo aus La in Ghana war ein Pionier der heute weltberühmten ghanaischen Sargkunst. 2002, nach seiner Begegnung mit der Schweizer Ethnologin Regula Tschumi, begann der ehemalige Sargkünstler im Alter von über 80 Jahren zu zeichnen. So entstand bis zu seinem Tod ein einzigartiges grafisches Werk, das dem westlichen Betrachter einen Einblick in die Kultur Ghanas und in die spirituelle Welt des Künstlers vermittelt.
2017
Ataa Oko: A glimpse inside the amazing world of Ghanaian funerals and how the carpenter Ataa Oko became an artist
Text & images R. Tschumi in the online Magazin Interwoven: the fabric of things —
ataa-oko
2025
Mit Stil auf die letzte Reise. Ghanas dynamische Bestattungskultur
Text (German) and photos by Regula Tschumi, in: Matthias Rataiczyk (ed.): Echo des Unbekannten. Vom Umgang mit Tod und Vergänglichkeit (Echo of the Unknown: Dealing with Death and Transience), Kunsthalle Talstrasse, Halle (Saale), pp. 152–163.
In her text, Regula Tschumi describes the use of figurative coffins in Ghana, which are shaped like fish, cars or aeroplanes, for example, and how young artists are continuously developing their designs. Other aspects of funeral culture have also evolved in recent years. Today, undertakers adorn mourning rooms with vibrant fabrics, artificial flowers, and elaborate displays. Sometimes, special coffin bearers enhance the ceremonies with choreographed dance performances.
2016
Die Pracht des Abschiednehmens. Einsichten in die Bestattungsriten der Ga
Text & photographs R. Tschumi in: «Drunter & Drüber. Das Magazin für Endlichkeitskultur», Part III, p. 8-11.
2014
Verborgene Kunst.
Geschichte, Transformation und Sinn der figürlichen Sänften und Särge in Ghana
Text & images R. Tschumi
ISBN 978-3-03828-098-9
Edition Till Schaap, Berne
2014
Concealed Art. The figurative palanquins and coffins of Ghana
Text & photographs R. Tschumi
English translation M. Hartley and C. Kelly
ISBN: 978-3-03828-017-0
Till Schaap Edition, Berne
Regula Tschumi’s book is based on her PhD and on several years of field research in southern Ghana. For the first time in this publication the figural palanquins of the Ga are in focus. They are examined in the context of the sociey from which they have developed and in which they are still being used. This book includes some previously unpublished very surprising photographs of figurative palanquins.
2013
Die figürlichen Sänften und Särge im Süden Ghanas. Geschichte, Transformation und Sinn einer künstlerischen Ausdrucksform von den Anfängen bis in die Gegenwart
PhD Dissertation 2013
University Basle
219 p. & pictures notes
2014
The buried treasures of the Ga. Coffin art in Ghana
Text & photographs R. Tschumi
English translation M. Hartley
ISBN 978-3-03828-016-3
Edition Till Schaap, Berne
For about fifty years the Ga coffins have been produced in the form of fruits, animals and status symbols and have thus established a tradition, which is presented here for the first time in a well-founded text and in numerous expressive illustrations. R. Tschumi traces the history of these figurative coffins in the art and religion of the Ga in Ghana.
This is a completely revised and updated edition of the Benteli book 2008.
2013
The Figurative Palanquins of the Ga. History and Significance
Text & photographs R. Tschumi in
«African Arts», 46, no. 4, November 2013, p. 60-73.
english
The figurative coffins of the Ga were for a long time celebrated as a revolutionary invention of an autonomous artist – the coffin-maker Kane Kwei from Teshi. However, R. Tschumi’s recent research results show that both science and the art world have been exposed to a great error due to lack of information. This text illuminates the origins of the figurative coffins from the figurative palanquins and summarizes the most important research results of the author.
2013
Hors-champs. Genèse de l’affiche de l’exposition_en
Text & photographs R. Tschumi in the exhibition catalgue of the MEN: «Hors-champs. Eclats du patrimoine culturel immatériel», p. 216-227.
french
This text reflects the background, which led the curators of the Musée d’ethnographie Neuchâtel MEN to commission Regula Tschumi to develop the poster for the exhibition “Hors-champs” in collaboration with Ghanaian sign painters.
This catalogue is out of print.
2011
Les trésors enterrés des Ga. L’art des cercueils au Ghana
Text & photographs R. Tschumi
French translation O. Demange & S. Zoubir-Shaw
ISBN 978-3-03828-017-0
Till Schaap Edition, Berne
The German text was again thoroughly reworked for this French translation and updated with new photographs.
2012
The Deathbed of a Living Man. A coffin for the Centre Pompidou
Text & photographs R. Tschumi in the exhibition catalogue of the Museum for Modern Art, Zollamt Frankfurt: «Saâdane Afif: Another Anthology of Black Humor», p. 57-72; p. 88-93.
german & english
2010
Lit de mort pour un vivant. Un cercueil pour le Centre Pompidou
Text & photographs R. Tschumi in the exhibition catalogue of the Centre Pompidou, Paris: «Saâdane Afif: Anthologie de l’humour noir», p. 37-51; p. 56-61.
french & english
2010
Ataa Oko et le langage formel des Ga
Text & images R. Tschumi in the exhibition catalogue of the Collection de l’Art Brut, Lausanne: «Ataa Oko», p. 15-32.
french
2010
Ataa Oko et les Esprits
Video by Philippe Lespinasse, Regula Tschumi & Andress Alvarez
16 min., french & english
Lausanne/Le Tourne, Collection de l’Art Brut/Lokomotiv Films, 2010
2006
Last respect, first honoured. Ghanaian burial rituals and figural coffins
Text & and images R. Tschumi in the exhibition catalogue of the Art Museum Berne: «Six Feet Under. Autopsie unseres Umgangs mit Toten / Autopsy of Our Relation to the Dead», p.114-125.
german & english
2008
The buried treasures of the Ga. Coffin art in Ghana
Text & photographs R. Tschumi
English translation M. Hartley
ISBN 978-3-7165-1520-4
Benteli, Berne
The German text of «The buried treasures of the Ga» (2006) was revised for this English translation and updated with new photos.
The edition 2008 is out of print.
2006
Die vergrabenen Schätze der Ga. Sarg-Kunst aus Ghana
Text & photographs R. Tschumi
ISBN: 978-3-7165-1413-9
Benteli, Berne
This book is out of print.
2004
A Report on Paa Joe and the Proverbial Coffins of Teshie and Nungua, Ghana
Text & photographs R. Tschumi in:
«Africa e Mediterraneo», no. 47-48, p. 44-47.
english & italian
2003
With a keener eye. Kay Hassan in Johannesburg
Text R. Tschumi in the exhibition catalogue of the Kunsthalle Berne: «Kay Hassan», p. 40-43.
english & german
