Artist Depicts the Last Supper with Homeless

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Artists have long interpreted Jesus’ final meal with his apostles, from Leonardo da Vinci’s classic 15th-century mural to Ron English’s 2010 image featuring Ronald McDonald and Bart Simpson. This week, an artist working in Scotland unveiled his oil painting, which features the faces of some of the most marginalized members of society.

Thirteen men in need sit around the table in artist Iain Campbell’s version of The Last Supper. The men depicted in Campbell’s painting are regulars at the Glasgow City Mission, a Christian charity that provides food and services to adults and children in need.

“We decided to call the painting Our Last Supper. It was based on something one of the guys had said to me,” Campbell told BBC News. “He said: ‘I suppose for any one of us this might be our last supper.’ ”

Some of the men featured in the picture are homeless, while others have places of their own.But each has benefited from the mission’s services, finding support in the volunteers and in one another.

“Most of the gentlemen at this table have all come from the same sort of background,” John Wallace, one of the men featured in the picture, told BBC News, noting that the men are part of his support system. He’s been visiting the City Mission for the past four years.

Glasgow shelters reported a rise in the number of people sleeping on the street this year, and the Glasgow City Mission notes that it’s seen an increase in demand for other forms of assistance, such as emergency food parcels.

The painting is on display at a café at St. George’s Tron, Church of Scotland, which sends all of its proceeds to the City Mission. Campbell hopes the painting will help raise awareness about vulnerable people in the city.

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