6 Sept 2011

Last Meals On Death Row


London photographer James Reynolds documented the final meals of former death row inmates. Cheerful, eh. The prison trays are replicas of those used in maximum security prisons.
"I saw a small list of what a few death row prisoners had chosen for their last meals before their deaths and I wondered what they would look like as a visual image. After all, these meals would be one of the last things these prisoners see before they die. At first I just wanted to see what these meals looked like on the iconic prison tray. I wanted to get the viewer to think, or have an opinion.‘I’d like to think that the photographs make the viewer think, what thought that is, I am not sure, as I myself had more thoughts the more I looked at them. What would my last meal be? What kind of people were these prisoners? Why did they choose that particular meal? What crime did they commit?"









‘The single olive still had its stone. The inmate thought that after being executed and buried, an olive tree—a symbol of peace—would grow from him. It was indeed a very profound thought or idea, but an olive tree has not yet been found on his grave.’
Shame that the stone of a processed black olive will never germinate. It has been boiled and packed in brine. It is a dead as the prisoner. Someone should've told him really...

P.S. Thanks to howtobearetronaut, I totally plagiarised your post!

2 comments:

  1. what sort of freak has a raw onion, 2 cokes and a pack of gum? must of been a seriously fucked up person judging by that meal.. now im wondering what id have..probably a caramel macchiato from starbucks, a krispy creme donut and a space cake, and urself?? can imagine u having a banana sandwich, a digestive biscuit and a nice cup of english tea! hahaaaa

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  2. Think I'd have a happy meal!
    Funny but not so ethical I know.

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