Jordan Eagles “Our Blood Can Save Them”

The Center

This event has ended.

The FDA’s discriminatory blood donation policy, instituted in 1983 in response to the AIDS crisis, still bans gay and bisexual men from donating blood unless they are celibate for a full year. There is no celibacy requirement for heterosexuals. Artist Jordan Eagles’ work, “Our Blood Can Save Them,” considers racial equality, LGBTQI+ equality and equality for all people, and correlates these concepts to those individuals willing to sacrifice and share of themselves in service to their country. This project aims to express the wasted potential created by ignoring and discriminating against certain groups, while also recognizing the common humanity in all of us.

Sharing Eagles’ installation in the historic Keith Haring Bathroom, which is home to Haring’s immersive and permanent mural celebrating sexuality and freedom, “Once Upon A Time” (1989), places the installation in relationship to the AIDS crisis and demonstrates how stigma, in all forms, still affects our policy decisions.