MzBel’s African-Themed Art Gallery Uses Glass Cabinets to Stop Visitors Pouring Libation on Merchandise

ACCRA—MzBel has enclosed the sculptures at her Afro Essence Village in glass cabinets after visitors repeatedly mistook the African-themed arts space for somewhere their ancestors could get a drink. Staff at the Gbawe gallery have been instructed to distinguish customers asking about a sculpture’s price from those asking which day it eats.

The cabinets will allow visitors to appreciate Ghanaian craftsmanship without first moistening it with schnapps. Anyone requesting that a case be opened must now produce a bank card rather than remove their sandals. Gallery attendants have also begun interrupting introductions to the ancestors with the name of the sculptor, his mobile-money number and confirmation that he is still alive.

The measure has encountered difficulties after several patrons interpreted the locked glass as evidence that the exhibits were too powerful to leave unattended. One visitor began pouring libation around the cabinet to reach the sculpture indirectly, while another asked whether the ventilation holes accepted coins. The next batch of cabinets will have no ventilation holes, following requests to feed the sculptures through a straw.

This is satire. The source story is real; the conclusions have been faithfully misinterpreted.