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Paul Ward/PA Wire
UK News

The Last Supper featuring homeless in Glasgow

by Hannah Tooley

Iain Campbell has replaced saints and apostles with homeless men from Glasgow.

He is using the project to highlight the plight of the homeless at Christmas and has painted the scene from an evening at Glasgow City Mission.

The Last Supper shows 13 men sitting around the table talking and eating, based loosely around the Leonardo da Vinci creation.

Mr Campbell, 40, thought about using famous faces and political figures in the painting but decided to portray those on the edges of society.

Iain Campbell, artist in residence for the Church of Scotland at Glasgow's St George's-Tron Church, said: "People keep asking me which one is Jesus and when we were setting up the composition of the 13 guys I deliberately didn't compose it to imagine 'this one's Jesus, this one's Judas', and so on.

"One thing that was in the back of my mind is something that Jesus said in the Gospels: 'Whatever you do for the least of these you do for me,' so with that idea in mind any one of them could represent Jesus."

Earlier in the week two of the men that feature in the image went to see it for the first time.

Arthur Curtis, 55, who now lives in housing association accommodation in Govan, visits the Mission twice a week: "I knew he had been doing it because one or two of the lads had seen bits of it getting done, but I'm amazed at the size of it. It's absolutely stunning, incredible.

"It's highlighting the City Mission - the work it does and the relationships that the guys who use it build up. The new Last Supper, I like that."

Paul Ward/PA Wire

John Wallace, 26, is also featured in the painting: "I've been involved with the Mission for about seven or eight years.

"I had a lot of problems in my life at the time and one night I went down to the Mission and got to meet some friends.

"It's not just a food bank, we've got our own clubs and outings and most of the volunteers that work in it have come from similar backgrounds, so you always know you're not on your own when you're struggling to cope.

"The painting shows a normal night in the Mission and hopefully it shows folks living on the streets or in tough times that there is always a place and it's open to everyone.

"I could see myself in it straight away because there's so much detail in it."

David Nasmith set up Glasgow City Mission in 1826 after he was shocked at the level of poverty in the city.

Today it works with adults and children in vulnerable situations including homelessness, addiction and family breakdown.

Graham Steven, fundraising manager, said: "A lot of the people that come to us feel vulnerable and isolated from society and to have their faces captured permanently in this painting is fantastic.

"It's a fabulous painting and really captures the characters that we see day in and day out at Glasgow City Mission.

"The original Last Supper of course features Jesus. A lot of his ministry was working with the poor and those on the margins of society, so in that sense it's a great link. It also captures modern day society where we still have lots of people on the margins of our cities."

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