Poet RJ Arkhipov uses his own blood as ink in protest at the UK’s “homophobic” blood donation policy.
In an experiment with help from a trusted medical student friend, RJ Arkhipov drew blood to use in an ink pen to write his poetry.
“I came into a realisation then that I couldn’t donate blood because I’m a gay man,” he explained to PinkNews.
“I was unable to and that kind of fed more into the poetry.”
In the UK, gay men are forbidden from donating blood for three months after any sexual encounter. This was only changed from twelve months in November 2017.
Arkhipov added: “Our current policies are still very much based in stigma. The deferrals are quite simply predicated on stereotypical hangovers from the HIV/AIDS crisis of the late 20th century.
“What our polices don’t take into account is that there may be a heterosexual man or woman who is having unprotected sex several times a days with different partners and they still are allowed to donate blood.
“For gay men, you can be in a monogamous relationship, you can be practising safe sex with condoms, with PrEP (Pre-exposure prophylaxis) and you’re still unable to donate blood.”
It was whilst living in Paris that he encountered a quote from novelist Ernest Hemingway that helped inspire his project: “There is nothing to writing, all you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
Arkhipov explained: “I really liked that, the kind of theatrics of that quote, the drama of it.”
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