Julie Green’s ‘The Last Supper’ Memorializes Hundreds of People’s Final Meals While on Death Row
Over a 22-year period, Green illustrated final requests ranging from pizzas and lobster to pies and KFC cartons. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Julie Green’s ‘The Last Supper’ Memorializes Hundreds of People’s Final Meals While on Death Row appeared first on Colossal .
Artist Julie L. Green's (1961-2021) expansive series The Last Supper memorializes the final meals of hundreds of individuals while they were on death row. Made between 1999 and 2001, Green collected mass-produced ceramic platters and plates, re-firing them with cobalt blue mineral paint to depict various dishes, from pizzas and lobster to pies and KFC cartons.
The project was inspired by an Oklahoma newspaper clipping in 1999 that described a man's final meal consisting of shrimp, tater tots, pecan pie, strawberry ice cream, honey, and a Coke. Green noted that these final meal requests humanize death row inmates, providing clues about their region, race, and economic background. Names are not mentioned, but dates and the penitentiary's state are.
Some final meals are famous, such as Timothy McVeigh's request for two pints of mint ice cream and John Wayne Gacy's dozen fried shrimp, a bucket of KFC, french fries, and a pound of strawberries. Green sent formal requests to prisons to learn about the final meals of inmates housed there, and she included responses in her compositions, even if her request was denied.
Over the past 50 years, 1,676 people have been executed in the U.S., with 303 of those executions taking place in the South, and Texas ordering 600 executions alone. The Last Supper is exhibited at the Grand Rapids Art Museum, where it will be on view until October 3.
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