LAST SUPPER (2014-2015)
Polyptych - The Last Supper, de Chaunac’s reworking of the centuries-old Christian iconography, realizes something utterly contemporary that shades into the sacral. Portraying faces of the naturally mummified bodies of people who died in a cholera outbreak in 1833 in Guanajuato, Mexico, today known as The Mummies of Guanajuato, the artist refers to the form of a polyptych (a work of art composed of several connected painted or carved panels, often hinged for folding, with one “central” panel most commonly created to be altar pieces in churches and cathedrals in the Late Middle Ages and Early Renaissance).
The Mummies of Guanajuato were exhumed between 1865 and 1958 and show bodies that were preserved in very good condition due to the minerals in the soil in which they were laid. Many of them were entombed immediately after their death to control the spread of the epidemic and in some cases, the dying were buried alive by accident. As a result, we observe a diversity of ways of “being” at the threshold of death where each final expression is frozen forever. El Museo de las Momias in Guanajuato now exhibits the mummies and they are considered an important part of Mexican popular culture, echoing the celebratory Day of the Dead.
In his black-and-white polyptych composed of 13 works, the artist makes a strong reference to Christ and the 12 Apostles. The only presence of color is the heart of Jesus that radiates with a deep red from the Christ portrait, which is at the center of the work. Polyptych - The Last Supper reveals the last breath on each face, fixed in their final expression as the dying person nears oblivion.
