Food acts as a portrait of both our individual identities as well as the identity of culture. It is both a mundane and spiritual experience. Food is both the creator of and solution to our anxiety. The connecting thread between our past and future.

“The Last Supper” is a project inspired by the memory of unknowingly watching my father eat his last meal. It consists of a cookbook of my father’s recipes taken from his personal emails, a series of still life images of each dish, and a performance where all in attendance are invited to eat (family style) a prepared meal of his recipes.

A communal table was draped with a white cloth, topped with a gold table runner, and surrounded by chairs. The table was traditionally set with white ceramic dinnerware, silverware, glassware, and white napkins.

The entire day leading up to the supper was spent cooking each of my father’s recipes. This was an open happening; guests were free to join me in discussion or silence. At the time of the event I set the table and presented the dishes “family style,” inviting the guests to partake. If a guest decided to leave upon finishing, the vacant space was re-set, allowing a new guest to partake.

I did not eat.

When the meal was deemed finished I sat alone at the table and ate a meal consisting of the exact items my father consumed his last conscious evening: Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups, Kit-Kat, Snickers, chocolate frozen yogurt, and a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Peanut Butter Cup ice cream.

The supper concluded.