Food: Mat Collishaw: Juan Soria, Last Meal on Death Row

Depictions of food were common in historic works as food, when left out, will spoil, and this future rotting was a reminder to the viewer that they too were flesh that would decompose in the grave. Mat Collishaw’s photograph Last Meal on Death Row, Texas (Juan Soria), 2011 is part of a series were he staged foodstuffs to resemble seventeenth-century depictions of food or lavish spreads. However the works actually document the last meals requested by prisoners on death row in the United States. Each work is named after the prisoner who requested the featured dish for their last meal, before being killed by the state.

Mat Collishaw, Juan Soria, Last Meal on Death Row, 2011, Texas, C-type photographic print