St Albans Cathedral supports Black Lives Matter with installation featuring black Jesus

Lorna May Wadsworth's original work, A Last Supper, has been installed at St Albans Cathedral in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Picture: Barney Cokeliss (Image: Archant)

As the cathedral reopens its doors to the public from July 4, visitors will be able to see the installation – a detailed, high resolution print of A Last Supper by Lorna May Wadsworth.

The work is an original composition of the scene made famous by Leonardo da Vinci’s 15th century mural painting for the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazia, in Milan. In Wadsworth’s 2009 version, Christ is depicted as a black man.

The Very Reverend Dr Jeffrey John, Dean of St Albans, said: “The church is not in a strong position to preach to others about justice, racial or otherwise.

“But our faith teaches that we are all made equally in the image of God, and that God is a God of justice. Black Lives Matter, so this is why we have turned our Altar of the Persecuted into a space for reflection and prayer with Lorna’s altarpiece at the heart.”

A Last Supper by Lorna May Wadsworth depicts Jesus has a black man. Picture: Lorna May Wadsworth (Image: Archant)

Lorna May Wadsworth explained: “Painting the Last Supper altarpiece made me really think about how we are accustomed to seeing Jesus portrayed.

“Experts agree he would most likely have had Middle Eastern features, yet for centuries European artists have traditionally painted Christ in their own image. I cast Jamaican-born model, Tafari Hinds, as my Jesus to make people question the Western myth that he had fair hair and blue eyes.

“My portrayal of him is just as ‘accurate’ as the received idea that he looked like a Florentine. I also knew that, from a previous portrait of Tafari, there is something in his countenance that people find deeply empathetic and moving, which is the overriding quality I wanted my Christ to embody.”