Elmina Castle – Elmina (1482 Portugal – 1637 Netherlands – 1872 Britain) (work of art)

Joseph Teteh Ashong (known as Paa Joe) is a Ghanaian artist and coffin maker. He collaborates with his son Jacob to create “fantasy coffins.” Their custom-made coffins range in shape from lions, fish, and chickens to paintbrushes, sneakers, and airplanes. The coffins are intended to honor deceased individuals in a creative way. The shape of each coffin symbolizes the person’s character and life accomplishments. 

While Paa Joe’s replicas of Elmina Castle and 12 other slave forts are not actual coffins, they reference these physical structures as vessels of death. His architectural models represent the buildings where millions of Africans were sold into slavery and forced onto ships to the Americas and the Caribbean islands. Paa Joe uses traditional techniques and materials to create large-scale wooden sculptures that serve as powerful reminders of where the journey into slavery began.

I had to travel many times to the sites, looking at them carefully before making them. These are pieces that you have to travel afar to watch and come back to make. They are about the identity of humanity. Their lasting message is that we can’t maltreat our fellow humans.

Paa Joe

Over the front door of this sculpture, Paa Joe lists the fortress’s history of colonial ownership (the act of a foreign nation gaining and maintaining political control over another country). His hand-painted text includes the names of the countries that captured and ruled Elmina Castle and the corresponding dates. “The Gate of No Return” is painted in red above the sculpture’s two back doors. After being forced through those doors at Elmina Castle, which opened directly to ships on the sea, enslaved people began a long journey during which many died. 

May humanity never again perpetrate such injustice against humanity. We, the living, vow to uphold this.

Excerpt from memorial plaque at entryway of Elmina Castle

• Read an article about this sculpture and the history of Elmina Castle on the NCMA website.
• Read Paa Joe’s artist bio.
• Watch a video about Conan O’Brien’s visit to Ghana and the fantasy coffin Paa Joe designed for him.
• Explore a website to view lesson plans, articles, and videos about the transatlantic slave trade.

Resources for Students

• Watch a short video about Paa Joe’s fantasy coffins.
• View a fantasy coffin shaped like a Nike sneaker.
• Take a virtual tour of Paa Joe’s Gates of No Return exhibition at the High Museum of Art and see more examples of his work.
• View images of Elmina Castle in present-day Elmina, Ghana.