The Last supper subject is probably the only genre of painting in Western art that is specifically about male friendship and belonging to a fraternity (other collective figure paintings depict association through politics, work or the military). The theme highlights the strength of friendship by juxtaposing its destruction by a betrayer; and most interpretations explicitly identify Judas by his position to the right hand side of Jesus, or by depicting the purse of silver pieces, devil association or even by explicit naming.
I wanted to avoid this predictability: Firstly, I was not willing to cast any friend in the role of Judas; and secondly I was particularly intrigued to capture the moment when the act of betrayal was announced, but the perpetrator unknown. This instance offers the opportunity for the viewer to be prompted to consider the position of both the victim(s) and the villain: The anger of betrayed friendship and the hollowness of personal gain turning into tormented guilt. In order to capture this feeling I planned for each disciple to stare at another in an attempt to visually interrogate whether the man in his gaze was the betrayer.