A 4-year-old boy who liked teddy bears. A 60-year-old white man who liked to wear leather. A middle-aged black woman who frequently went to church. A twentysomething Latino who immigrated to the U.S. At first it would seem as though these people have nothing in common. But The AIDS Memorial Quilt, put together by The NAMES Project Foundation, recognizes that these people, and others like them, have all died of HIV/AIDS.
The Quilt strives to humanize the devastation and the threat of the disease. Each patch, put together by loved ones, honors an individual and tells his or her story. Aside from honoring those who have died, The Quilt has taken on a new mission over time ' to raise awareness, educate and promote open discussion about AIDS. This quilt is a must-see for everyone, regardless of race, religion, age or sexual orientation.
The history of the project can be traced back to 1985. Gay rights political activist Cleve Jones was planning a candlelit march to honor assassinated San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Mascone. Milk was the first openly gay supervisor in San Francisco. While preparing for the march, he asked participants to write the names of loved ones who had died of AIDS on placards to carry in the march. This was the first time that people with AIDS were publicly recognized. At the end of the march, marchers taped the placards to the walls of the San Francisco Federal Building, which sparked the idea for The AIDS Memorial Quilt.
Volunteers generated interest in creating The Quilt and in 1987, it was hung from the Mayor's balcony. Four months later, The Quilt's first 1,920 panels were displayed on the National Mall in Washington and half a million people visited the exhibit. The Quilt then went on tour in the U.S. and abroad and continues to do so. The Quilt, which now has about 46,000 panels, has raised more than $3 million and has been seen by more than 15 million people.
Since the first cases of AIDS were discovered in the U.S., the disease has forced the U.S. to come to terms with its stereotypes, has transformed America's political landscape and has prompted important improvements in health care, prescription drugs and technology. The Quilt does the important job of tracing the history of AIDS in the U.S. and some of the not-so-flattering moments of America's history.
The Quilt, in its entirety, honors more than 88,000 individuals from all 50 U.S. states and 22 countries. It was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 and today is the largest community art project in the world. Anyone can add a patch at any time to memorialize a loved one who has died of AIDS.
The Quilt's materials, which include photos, leather jackets, old T-shirts, love letters, stuffed animals, rosaries, jock straps and condoms, are as diverse as the people memorialized. Some patches, with threadbare clothes and religious memorabilia, express the grief of family members. Other patches, with old love letters and poems, express the anguish felt by lost lovers. The intricacy and care put into each and every patch, with varying amounts of details and artistic ability, makes the devastation of the disease palpable.
While the patches provide the same information a gravestone would, viewers feel as though they better understand the personalities, passions and even the quirks of those that have died. It is easy to assume that AIDS is far removed or that only people in Africa are devastated by the disease, but The Quilt teaches an important lesson ' AIDS knows no boundaries, and doesn't discriminate among its victims.
The two-fold mission of The Quilt makes this piece of art so important. The names on The Quilt only represent about 17.5 percent of all U.S. AIDS-related deaths, prompting visitors to consider how widespread the disease really is. The sheer number of artists involved in the project and the thousands of names of victims makes The Quilt a vehicle of social awareness and a springboard for discussion, while visitors can take in the splendor of the exhibit and heartbreak felt by those who have created it.
For more information about donating to the foundation or to create a panel for The Quilt, go to www.aidsquilt.org.
17 Archives
Janet Nester
Leather jackets, love letters capture personalities of victims
