The Last Supper
Final Meals of U.S. Death Row Inmates
April 2013
Julie Green has documented last meals of death row inmates on porcelain plates for the past 19 years. Her interest in this work comes from being a food person who always saw food as celebratory enjoyment. After reading news articles detailing these last meals, she was compelled to document them because they represented something very different than celebration.
In 2013, The Arts Center showed 500 of her works in the largest showing of them to date. The show received attention from the New York Times.
Since there are still death row executions, her collection has continued to grow. In 2015, she had the opportunity to show them and win one of the prestigious Grand Rapids Art Prizes in the process.
Julie Green is a professor of art at Oregon State University.
A catalogue documenting 500 of her plates was published in conjunction with the show, thanks to the support of The Ford Family Foundation.
