Last Week

78 x 68 inches, colored pencil and graphite on paper,

This piece depicts one person consuming six “last meals” requested by convicted killers (the exact foods they requested / ate). I approached the meals like a recipe list or bleak diet plan, ending in the same fate as the subjects. The foods are so specific and ordinary that they create a strange human connection: dark, almost funny, ultimately tragic. We all know the taste of these foods and often share the same cravings, creating a strange form of empathy with these serial killers. The work touches on nature vs. nurture and chance, how birthplace, upbringing, and influences can shape us.

References:

1. Aileen Wuornos: executed in Florida in 2002 (lethal injection)

2. John Wayne Gacy: executed in Illinois in 1994 (lethal injection)

3. Ted Bundy: executed in Florida in 1989 (electrocution)

4. Timothy McVeigh: executed in Indiana in 2001 (lethal injection)

5. Velma Barfield: executed in North Carolina in 1984 (lethal injection)

6. Gary Carl Simmons, Jr.: executed in Mississippi in 2012 (lethal injection)