A Last Supper (Prints)
A Last Supper (Prints)
Giclee print edition of 500 across two size options on archival Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper
The original version of the 12-foot-long (3.6 metres) oil on aluminium reworking of Leonardo’s Last Supper currently hangs in St George’s Church in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire. It was painted entirely from life with Jesus represented by Jamaican-born fashion model, Tafari Hinds.
When he saw A Last Supper, not long after it was first painted, Dr Rowan Williams, then Archbishop of Canterbury commented the work had “tremendous vitality, but also a really powerful tension between the agitation of some figures and the profound stillness and presence of others. All the faces repay long looking.”
In 2019, the painting hit the headlines across Britain, when I discovered whilst supervising the work being scanned, that it had been shot while in situ behind the altar of St. George’s. The damage occurred on Christ’s right side, the same place that Longinus, a Roman centurion, pierced the body of Jesus with his spear as He hung from the cross.
The underlying narrative of my work is the female gaze. Throughout art history we have viewed figurative painting though the eyes and ideals of men. I seek to challenge this orthodoxy and in my Last Supper I offered a fresh interpretation by using beautiful models as the disciples. I also wanted to question the western myth that Jesus had fair hair and blue eyes by casting him as black, which in my view, is just as 'accurate' as the received idea that he looked like a Florentine.
I accepted the commission on the condition that I had total artistic control. This inverted the usual power dynamic that usually occurs between commissioner and artist, whereby the commissioner hires an artist to paint an image of their choosing. I did the painting for expenses only, as a trade-off for having the power of portrayal.
In July 2020, a fine art print version of A Last Supper was commissioned by the Very Reverend Dr Jeffrey John, Dean of St Albans Cathedral and was displayed above the Altar of the Persecuted, to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.