Artist Henry Hargreaves Photographs Last Meals Of US Prisoners On Death Row

• Artist photographs last meals of prisoners on death row
• Created it to discuss this "macabre little ritual" of execution
• Said he likely "wouldn't be able to stomach" his own last meal
• In Pictures: Last meals of death row prisoners

A NEW Zealand artist has been invited to display his photographs of the last meals of prison inmates on death row in the US at a Venice exhibition later this year.

Henry Hargreaves told news.com.au he created the photo essay in order to inspire a debate on the death penalty.

His "portraits" include the last meal of Timothy McVeigh, the American terrorist that detonated a truck-full of explosives outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people including 19 children in the day care center on the second floor of the building, and injuring hundreds of others.

"I'm from NZ, so coming to the US I find the idea of the death penalty so uncivilised," he said.

"They have since outlawed the last meal in Texas but when this debate was going on I was curious to see what the requests were and thought it would be a powerful idea to try to visualise."

Texas officials banned last meals after convicted murderer Lawrence Russell Brewer requested a lavish last meal that included two chicken fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, fried okra, a pound of barbecue, three fajitas, a meat lover's pizza, a pint of ice cream and a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts. Brewer reportedly refused to eat any of the food he had requested, leading to the ban.

Senator John Whitmire wrote to the Texas criminal justice department that it was "extremely inappropriate to give a person sentenced to death such a privilege," The Guardian reported.

The department agreed and its executive director, Brad Livingston, issued the decree in 2011 that:
"Effective immediately, no such accommodations will be made. They will receive the same meal served to other offenders on the unit."

Hargreaves recreated the meals of prisoners via information he found online. Last meals are a matter of public record.

The photographer said the project changed him, saying that it "humanised" the inmates whose last meals he was documenting.

"I wanted it also to reflect the barbaric nature of the death penalty, here's a little ritual before we put you to death. So macabre," he said.

When asked what his last meal would be, Hargreaves said he'd likely decline the option of food.

"I doubt I would be able to stomach anything," he said.

He said that the reaction to the series has been both positive and negative.

"I think the main goal of an artist is to make someone think about something and when I get an email or they post a comment you know you have triggered a reaction and therefore they have contemplated the images," he said.

The photos were taken a few years ago but he has since added three more ahead of an exhibition in Venice later this year.

Click through to view more of Hargreaves' images and then visit his website to see the full collection.

Courtesy: News.co.au