Baltimore, Maryland – The National AIDS Memorial is partnering together to bring 80 panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt (the Quilt) to Baltimore as part of the Community Display Program. Join the event on Sunday, Dec 1, 2024 at 1 pm to see the 80 quilts to be on display the entire week. The day will start with the reading of the names, and comments from local representatives, leaders, and nonprofit organizations.
The Quilt panels will be on display from Dec 1 – 8, 2024. Noon-4 pm (for private tours), 4 pm-8 pm (open to public.) The display is free to the public, with any donations received supporting the mission and work of Andrews House and local HIV/AIDS organizations.
“We are honored to work together with the National AIDS Memorial to bring the Quilt to our community and share its stories of hope, activism, healing, and remembrance,” said Jason Skerik, JPAR 5 Star Properties. Kelly Sisson, First & Saint Stephen’s United Church of Christ. “The Quilt sections on display connect the story of AIDS directly to the work we do to provide services, educate, and raise greater awareness about HIV today. The Quilt offers an important reflection about the tremendous loss of life, allowing us to remember those we’ve lost, ensure their lives are never forgotten, and provide hope for the future.”
Throughout the ongoing AIDS crisis, more than 700,000 lives have been lost in this country to HIV/AIDS. Today, HIV is on the rise, particularly among young people, communities of color, and in the Southern United States. Quilt displays are used to raise greater awareness about the story of AIDS, and prevention, treatments, and resources available within the community.
“The issues our nation faces today- social injustice, health inequity, stigma, bigotry, and fear – are the same issues faced throughout four decades of the AIDS pandemic,” says John Cunningham, CEO of the National AIDS Memorial. “The Quilt is a powerful teaching tool that shares the story of HIV/AIDS, the lives lost, and the hope, healing, activism, and remembrance that it inspires.”
JPAR and Fist & Saint Stephen’s worked together with the National AIDS Memorial to curate the selection of Quilt panels for display, which feature panels from the region, made to honor and remember the names of friends and loved ones lost to AIDS. Examples: One panel honors Tony, made by his mother. He was only 11 when he died and his panel features images of his favorite play characters, most prominently Teenage Ninja Turtles.
Another panel honors a brother, Barry Sumpter, made by his sister. Sewn into it are the colors of the rainbow and includes a smiling photo of Barry and two tennis racquets showing his love for the sport. Another panel is for 26-year-old Bernard James Little from Vermont which sewn into it is a black kimono shirt he wore with a photo of him wearing it surrounded by doves and messages from loved ones. A panel shares the story of 23-year-old “Lukie” Darrell Mackabee, whose Mom remembers many of his keepsakes throughout his life including his ballcap, baby pillow, pins, and photos.]
The Quilt was created in the ‘80s during the darkest days of the AIDS pandemic by gay rights activist Cleve Jones. While planning a march in 1985, he was devastated by the thousands of lives that had been lost to AIDS in San Francisco and asked each of his fellow marchers to write on placards the names of friends and loved ones who had died. Jones and others stood on ladders taping these placards to the walls of the San Francisco Federal Building. The wall of names looked like a patchwork quilt, and inspired by this sight, Jones and friends made plans for a larger memorial.
In 1987, a group of strangers began gathering in a San Francisco storefront to document the lives they feared history would neglect. Their goal was to create a memorial for those who had died of AIDS and to thereby help people understand the devastating impact of the disease. This served as the foundation of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and later that year, nearly 2,000 of its panels were displayed on the National Mall in Washington, DC.
Today, the Quilt has grown to more than 50,000 panels, with more than 110,000 names stitched within its fabric. It weighs 54 tons, stretches more than 50 miles in length, and is the largest community arts project in the world. The Quilt is now part of the National AIDS Memorial, which oversees its preservation, care, storytelling programs, and community displays. The Quilt can be viewed in its entirety and people can search for names on the Quilt at www.aidsmemorial.org/quilt.
