Blood and Semen V, from the portfolio In a Dream You Saw a Way to Survive and You Were Full of Joy

Blood and Semen V presents a close-up image of bodily fluids in an overtly aesthetic composition, taking advantage of the color printing process to deliver a saturated red. The work is one of eleven photographs included in the portfolio In a Dream You Saw a Way to Survive and You Were Full of Joy, produced in 1990 by Photographers & Friends United Against AIDS. The portfolio features many works that demonstrate an explicit awareness of the AIDS crisis, as indicated by Serrano’s depiction of the bodily fluids most likely to transmit the disease. Blood and Semen V alludes to AIDS and sexuality as well as to Serrano’s lapsed Catholicism, whose doctrine attests to the spiritual power of corporeal fluids.