July 20, 2024

"Steve" (Philip Rosch) has been for an HIV test. He has been told it will take ten days for his results - but he's not to worry, unduly - just go home and "relax". Easier said than done as Chris Newby takes on an allegory-ridden monochrome experience illustrating just how he might have got the disease, how he might have prevented that infection; how he will tell his friends, his parents. How will he pay his bills? Who will look after him when his… read the rest.

"Steve" (Philip Rosch) has been for an HIV test. He has been told it will take ten days for his results - but he's not to worry, unduly - just go home and "relax". Easier said than done as Chris Newby takes on an allegory-ridden monochrome experience illustrating just how he might have got the disease, how he might have prevented that infection; how he will tell his friends, his parents. How will he pay his bills? Who will look after him when his "brain turns to jelly"? If you were around in the late 1980s you'll remember that sense of paranoia, of panic and of fear that many gay men felt with this sword of Damocles hanging over their heads. STDs had been around forever but never had one targeted a specific community, and it's widespread promiscuous behaviour, so lethally and comprehensively. The imagery offers us death and life, trauma and joy and reminds us that no amount of scrubbing is going to make a blind bit of difference to the outcome that tiny sample of blood is going to deliver. Certainly not the "Relax" that Frankie Goes to Hollywood had in mind in 1983... Poignant.

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