Gene Hathorn, 47, who was convicted of killing his father, stepmother and stepbrother in 1985, has given his consent to artist Marco Evaristti to use his body as an “art installation” in part of a wider project on capital punishment.
Should Hathorn’s final appeal fail, Mr Evaristti would deep-freeze Hathorn’s body and then turn it into fish food which visitors at the exhibition could feed to goldfish.
Mr Evaristti, a Chilean-born artist living in Denmark, hopes to begin work within a year if Hathorn is refused an appeal for the third time.
The pair met when Mr Evaristti was researching the longest serving inmates on Texas’ infamous death row.
He first visited Hathorn in April this year and when he first suggest the idea to Hathorn, he apparently agreed immediately.
Mr Evaristti said: “Gene Hathorn’s story is a powerful one but it is not his story that is as important for me as the system that exists in a society such as America’s in such a vulgar and primitive way, the system, of killing people like this. I wanted to raise awareness of the fact there are people killed legally in our Western civilisation.“
He added: “He wants to be a part of this art. It’s the last thing he can do for society and he views it as positive.“
There are doubts Mr Evaristti will be able to use Hathorn’s remains in such a way but he is prepared for legal proceedings.
In the meantime, he is helping raise £125,000 for an investigation into events surrounding the circumstances of Hathorn’s conviction, in the hope it may lead to an appeal, and has so far raised £52,000 through drawings produced by Hathorn.
The artist said details such as the sexual abuse Hathorn experienced at the hands of his father, an alleged Ku Klux Klan member, was not included in court proceedings leading to his convictions.
Mr Evaristti has been involved in a number of controversial exhibitions in the past. He first gained notoriety for a museum display in 2000 when he placed goldfish in electric blenders filled with water and invited visitors to turn them on.
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