Here’s what to know about the art museum’s new exhibit, featuring human blood sculptures

Jordan Eagles remembers the first (and only) time he tried to donate blood. At the time, the New York-based artist was in his 20s and was swiftly turned away without quite understanding why.

Eagles was denied the chance to donate blood, as many men have been and continue to be, because of his sexuality. Since the 1980s, the Food and Drug Administration has had policies that prohibit or limit men who have sex with other men from donating blood.

“That kind of always sat with me,” Eagles said. “It was a really gnarly, humiliating experience.”

Since about 2014, Eagles has created artwork featuring real human blood that invites viewers to think about how the FDA’s policies exclude members of the LGTBQ community and how this exclusion impacts the greater society. Eagles’ latest solo exhibition, which depicts many works featuring human blood, opened at the Springfield Art Museum on Saturday. “ONE BLOOD” remains open until Feb. 18, 2024.

Walking around the museum galleries, Eagles described “ONE BLOOD” as having multiple chapters, with the first centered around Eagles’ popularly known sculpture “Blood Mirror.”

Chapter One: Blood Mirror

Located in the heart of the Deborah D. Weisel Gallery, “Blood Mirror” looms in the center of the dimly lit room. The rectangular sculpture stands seven feet tall and features blood donations from 59 gay, bisexual and transgender men.

Eagles began working on the sculpture made of blood, resin and plexiglass in 2014. The first iteration of the sculpture featured the blood of nine men, each representing notable perspectives of the blood ban. The first nine donors included men such as former Gay Men’s Health Crisis CEO Kelsey Louie and former American Academy of HIV Science Director Howard Grossman.

The second, and current, iteration of the sculpture includes an additional 50 blood donations, all from men who use PrEP, including Eagles. PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, is a medication that reduces a user’s risk of contracting HIV from sex or injection drug use. PrEP is taken via pill or injection.

“I didn’t necessarily know if I was going to add more,” Eagles said about the sculpture’s second iteration. “I always think of the piece as an evolving sculpture. It’s built in a way that blood can always be added to it. Even on the wall label it says, ‘2015 through present’ … there’s always the option for it to evolve, and it will not be a completed sculpture until the policy is fully fair.”

All of the other artwork in the Deborah D. Weisel Gallery is related to the creation of “Blood Mirror.”

Leaning up against one of the gallery walls, “Community Pint” features each of the 50 blood collection tubes used during the second iteration of “Blood Mirror,” suspended in resin. Each tube bears the name of the donor printed on the side.

Hanging on the adjacent wall, “Latex Gloves/Blue Scrubs” features two square frames full of latex gloves and scrubs, held in place with resin and plexiglass. Eagles said he used these protective materials while working on “Blood Mirror.”

All of the blood used in “Blood Mirror” came from HIV-negative donors, Eagles said.

Chapter Two: Americana pop culture

The next, middle chapters of “ONE BLOOD” are located in the Leona C. Kelly Gallery. The works in this gallery play on Americana pop culture, with the use of comic books and World War II propaganda in both two- and three-dimensional works.

One of the sculptures in the gallery features two blood collection tubes, used gloves and paintbrushes, and a cover page of “The New Guardians,” a short-lived comic book series, all suspended within resin and plexiglass. Eagles said one of the tubes was used for a donor taking PrEP and the other was used for an HIV-positive undetectable donor. When an individual is HIV-positive undetectable, it means the levels of HIV in the system are so low that the virus cannot be transmitted.

Released by DC Comics in 1988 and 1989, “The New Guardians” follows a group of international superheroes fighting against social injustice. One of the main superheroes in the story is Extraño, a Peruvian magician known as one of the first queer characters in a comic book series. Extraño dies toward the end of the series after being bitten by Hemoglobin, “a genetically engineered vampire who is created by white supremacists from South Africa with AIDS to attack and kill minorities by biting them and infecting them with HIV,” Eagles said.

Eagles described “The New Guardians” as a “horrendous comic,” but he enjoys using media like it to help propel a larger question: “How can we use that story and present the way medicine is used now and see how the storylines don’t have to be the way they were?”

Chapter Three: Artificial intelligence

The final chapter of “ONE BLOOD” features a new body of work using artificial intelligence, specifically OpenAI’s ChatGPT and DALL-E.

Located in a corner of the Deborah D. Weisel Gallery, three television screens play looped videos. One screen features a video of Eagles asking ChatGPT questions related to the FDA’s blood donation policies.

Another screen features a rotating series of DALL-E-created images. Eagles said he prompted DALL-E to create images of gay men and non-binary individuals donating blood.

“This computer generator, DALL-E, is unable to do faces and limbs, across the board,” Eagles explained. “But taking the bad technology and pairing it with really bad policy to create these images, that to me was what was sort of interesting because you’re getting deformed people with a deformed policy.”

Eagles said this final chapter in the exhibition sums up his opinions on the FDA’s policy: “What do I think of the FDA’s policy right now? I think it’s completely artificial.”

History of FDA ‘blood bans’

The first “blood ban,” the label Eagles and fellow activists use to describe anti-LGBTQ blood donor policies, was implemented by the FDA in 1985. At this time, the FDA instilled a lifetime ban on blood donations by men who had sex with other men. For three decades, all gay and bisexual men were turned away from giving blood.

In 2015, the policy changed, allowing men who had sex with other men to give blood, as long as they were at least one year celibate. Then in 2020, due to a blood shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic, the policy changed again, shortening the celibacy period to 90 days, according to the American Medical Association.

In May, the FDA changed the policy once more, implementing “risk-based questions” to reduce the risk of HIV transmission. These questions “will be the same for every donor, regardless of sexual orientation, sex or gender,” a FDA news release states.

No longer are donors asked specific questions about men having sex with other men and women having sex with other men. Now, all donors who report having a new sexual partner or multiple sexual partners within the past three months and anal sex within the past three months will be deferred from giving blood. This is to “reduce the likelihood of donations by individuals with new or recent HIV infection,” according to the news release.

Under the new policy, individuals who take PrEP still cannot donate blood.

“The FDA’s policy appears to be … non-discriminatory and ‘technically’ it’s no longer discriminatory because they will ask the same questions to me as they’ll ask to my mother as they’ll ask to my grandmother,” Eagles said. “Even though the questions are technically geared toward everyone being the same, there’s an inherent bias in the questions themselves.”

In addition to his artwork, Eagles is also the co-founder of Blood Equality, an organization that works with the Gay Men’s Health Crisis to stop the discrimination against LGBTQ donors, giving everyone the equal opportunity to donate blood.

Slow Viewing

Those interested in visiting “ONE BLOOD” in a group setting may attend the art museum’s free Slow Viewing at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 27. Hosted by local artist Shauna LeAnn Smith, Slow Viewing participants will spend an hour in the exhibition, carefully observing the art and discussing their understanding of the works. Though free, registration is required on the Springfield Art Museum website, as the event is limited to 12 participants.

Eagles said he understands that some may be driven away by the idea of human blood used in art, but he hopes they give the work a chance.

“When you say the word ‘blood,’ and that’s what people hear, it means something to them, very different than when they actually see the work and experience it,” Eagles said. “There’s a certain energy that I believe comes out of the blood; it’s really meant to be experienced in person. The works are also meant to engage the viewer. It’s not mean to repel them. You’re not looking at blood spilled on the floor after a violent act. You’re looking at something that is maybe graphic, but graphic and visceral is different than gore.”

Ongoing blood shortage

The Red Cross declared a national blood shortage on Sept. 11, with a critically low blood supply that dropped nearly 25% since early August, according to a Red Cross news release. The Red Cross estimated that about 10,000 blood products must be collected each week over the next month in order to reach sufficient levels and meet patient needs.

Greta Cross is the trending topics reporter for the Springfield News-Leader. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretacrossphoto. Story idea? Email her at[email protected].