TL;DR
Los Angeles-based photographer and musician Smiles Meyer staged “The First Gathering,” a 2024 photograph recreating Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” with trans models. In an interview with Hyperallergic, Meyer described the work as a way to explore religious trauma and reclaim ideas of divinity through queer and trans identity.
Los Angeles-based photographer and musician Smiles Meyer reimagined Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” in a 2024 photograph featuring trans models, using the familiar religious composition to explore queer identity and religious trauma. The work, titled “The First Gathering,” is part of Meyer’s artistic effort to reclaim ideas of divinity beyond the Catholic imagery that shaped their upbringing.
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“The First Gathering” was made with Meyer as creative director and a team that included stylist Kaley Azambuja, intimacy coordinator and movement director Scout Nankin, makeup artist @hot_at_the_party, and photo and lighting assistant Betty Connolly. The image includes 13 models, identified in the report as Alena, Teague, Joey, JA, Mia, Jules, Annalise, Kat, Bamby, Mars, Chloe, Zaphir and Lena. The photograph draws on the arrangement of figures in da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” painted around 1495–98.
Meyer told Hyperallergic that they grew up in San Diego in a conservative Catholic environment and began making photographs in 2018. Before that, they had wanted to become a poet. Meyer said depression and antidepressant medication affected their ability to write, and that assembling printed photographs into collages offered another way to tell stories. Photography later became their main practice.
The new image follows earlier work through which Meyer has explored gender and religious imagery, including a “Mary + I” cover and nightclub exorcism photographs made for performance artist Maris. The Hyperallergic report places Meyer’s work within a broader tradition of queer and trans artists reworking religious scenes, while focusing on the photographer’s own relationship to faith, creativity and bodily change.
Reclaiming Religious Imagery
The photograph uses an image with deep roots in Christian art to place trans people at its center. Rather than treating the composition only as a reference to a canonical painting, Meyer turns it into a setting for a gathering that reflects queer and trans identity. That approach makes the work relevant to discussions of who is represented in religious imagery and who gets to define spiritual meaning.
For Meyer, the project is also personal: the source report connects their Catholic upbringing and religious trauma with an artistic practice that celebrates their gender identity. The image’s significance, then, lies not just in its visual reference but in the artist’s stated aim to rethink divinity as something that can exist within people, including trans people.
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From Catholic Upbringing to Photography
Meyer said they were drawn first to writing and hoped to become a poet. After coming out as queer at about 18, they experienced severe depression. They told Hyperallergic that medication seemed to lessen both sadness and their ability to write. In 2018, they began taking photographs and cutting up prints to make collages, a process that eventually shifted into a sustained photography career.
The source report links Meyer’s thinking about divinity to their reading of philosopher Judith Butler. Meyer said Butler’s writing encouraged them to consider how trans people might appropriate the power of creation and to understand the divine as something that lives within people, rather than something belonging only to Jesus or a distant God. “The First Gathering” brings that idea into a recognizable religious composition.
““I was first in love with words.””
— Smiles Meyer, speaking to Hyperallergic
What the Report Leaves Open
The source report does not say whether “The First Gathering” is part of a larger exhibition, where it can currently be seen, or whether Meyer plans further images in the series. It also does not provide details about the photograph’s reception beyond its discussion of Meyer’s intentions. The article describes the project as a staged image and reports Meyer’s interpretation; it does not establish how audiences or religious communities have responded.
The report identifies the collaborators and models but does not give further information about the production schedule, setting, or any planned public presentation. Those details remain unconfirmed in the available material.
Where Meyer’s Series Goes
No upcoming exhibition, publication, or follow-up project is announced in the source report. Readers seeking updates will need to look for further information from Meyer or the project’s presenters. For now, the confirmed development is the 2024 photograph and Hyperallergic’s account of how Meyer connects it to their earlier work and personal history.
Further reporting could clarify whether Meyer intends to expand “The First Gathering” into a continuing series, how the image will be exhibited or distributed, and what responses it receives from viewers. Until then, those possibilities should not be treated as confirmed plans.
Key Questions
What is “The First Gathering”?
“The First Gathering” is Smiles Meyer’s 2024 staged photograph, which reworks the composition of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” with trans models.
Who created the photograph?
Smiles Meyer, a Los Angeles-based photographer and musician, served as creative director. The production also involved stylist Kaley Azambuja, intimacy coordinator and movement director Scout Nankin, makeup artist @hot_at_the_party, and photo and lighting assistant Betty Connolly.
Why did Meyer use a religious image?
Meyer told Hyperallergic that their work explores religious trauma and reclaims ideas of divinity for queer and trans people. They connected that perspective to their Catholic upbringing and their reading of Judith Butler.
Where can the photograph be seen?
The source report does not specify a current exhibition venue or viewing location. It also does not announce an upcoming public showing.
Will Meyer make more work in this series?
The report does not confirm whether “The First Gathering” will become part of a continuing series. No follow-up project or release schedule is stated.
Source: rss
