Parrish collection artist Jackie Black (American, born 1958) discusses her work in Last Meal and new projects with Curatorial Assistant and Publications Coordinator Savannah Petrick in an online live-streamed conversation.

Currently on view at the Parrish, Last Meal is artist and activist Jackie Black’s commentary on capital punishment. A series of powerful 12 x 12-inch images recreate the last meals and statements of 23 individuals who were tried, convicted and executed in Texas under capital punishment between 1984 and 2001. At first glance, they read as staged food photos on a glossy diner menu. However, suspended against stark black backgrounds in a gallery setting – with no suggestion of social or human interaction – the images are transformed into macabre still lifes. Savannah Petrick and Black discuss the work in the context of the USA today – in a country that has had 170 exonerations since 1973, and 1,522 executions since 1976.

About Jackie Black
Jackie Black was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and grew up in Texas, Arkansas and Florida. She graduated from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 1994. Her first car was a 1969 lemon yellow Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. She currently drives a bicycle. Jackie’s photo series, last meal, in which she recreates the last meals requested by (23) prisoners executed in Texas, is in the collection of this museum. Her last meal would be fried chicken, black-eyed peas, mashed potatoes, ramen, and a lobster roll. (The prison systems do not allow alcohol or tobacco.) Jackie is a photographer, framer, maker, artist, activist, coconut enthusiast, and bicycle fanatic.

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Additional support provided by Sandy and Stephen Perlbinder.