aldington | open prison
23|10|05

At the back of the classrooms, still lit with the brown glow of the workshop courtyard, were further art rooms. It was here that we discovered Schipperke’s work.

Taking Da Vinci’s The Last Supper as insiration, Schipperke reproduced the masterpiece along one side of a cramped corridor. He genius extended to altering Leonardo’s original, replacing Jesus and his disciples with representations (I presume) of the prison’s governor and his staff. It was impressive.

It wasn’t possible to photograph it whole, but the piecemeal presentation here, along with some more oblique shots, should give an indication of its size and beauty.

Unfortunately someone had punched the governor square in the face, blasting his visage, and oddly extending his mouth. Whilst deplorable, I wonder if a prisoner did it, as a two fingers up to the prison and its governor. It was odd that the damage was limited to this one person, suggesting it was motivated as a personal attack. If so, it’s a bold visualisation of the frustration, anger, resentment and hatred of some of the incarcerated against the administrative staff.

Although I’m sure Schipperke wouldn’t take that view. I think he’d be utterly pissed off.