AIDS Memorial Quilt












NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt

The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt is a memorial to celebrate the lives of people who have died of AIDS-related causes. Weighing an estimated 54 tons, with an approximate area of 1,300,000 square feet, it is the largest piece of community folk art in the world.

Inspiration

The idea for the NAMES Project Memorial Quilt was conceived on November 27, 1985, by AIDS activist Cleve Jones during a candlelight march. Jones had people write the names of loved ones that were lost to AIDS-related causes on signs, and then they taped the signs to the old San Francisco Federal Building. All the signs taped to the building looked like an enormous patchwork quilt.

At that time many people who died of AIDS-related causes did not receive funerals, due to both the social stigma of AIDS felt by surviving family members and the outright refusal by many funeral homes and cemeteries to handle the deceased's remains. Lacking a memorial service or grave site, the Quilt was often the only opportunity survivors had to remember and celebrate their loved ones' lives. Volunteers created hundreds and later thousands of panels in a storefront on Market Street.

Quilt History

The Quilt made its first public appearance on October 11, 1987, during the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights on the National Mall. Comprising 1,920 panels and covering an area larger than a football field, 48 volunteers ceremonially unfolded the Quilt at sunrise.

AIDS Memorial Quilt - Washington Monument

















For the AIDS Memorial Quilt's 25th anniversary in July 2012, the quilt comprised over 48,000 panels honoring 94,000 lives lost to AIDS.

As of 2020, the AIDS Memorial Quilt features 50,000 panels with nearly 110,000 names sewn into them. The collection is searchable online by block number or name, allowing users to read the stories stitched into each panel.

Cared for by the National AIDS Memorial in San Francisco, the entire collection has been fully digitized. You can search the digital archive, read personal stories, and locate the exact panel of a friend or loved one using the Interactive AIDS Quilt tool.

Over 35 countries created their own AIDS Memorial Quilts to honor those lost to the epidemic. Modeled after the original U.S. NAMES Project, these international sections tour locally and globally to fight stigma.

Quilt Construction and Care

Each panel measures three by six feet, approximately the size of the average grave. The panels are made by individuals, in workshops such as Call My Name, or in quilting bees, such as the one held during the 2012 Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall.

Construction choices are left to the quilter and techniques such as traditional fabric quilting, embroidery, applique, paint and stencil, beading, and iron-ons are common.

Items and materials included in the panels:
  • Fabrics such as lace, suede, leather, mink, taffeta, also Bubble Wrap and other kinds of plastic and even metal.
  • Decorative items like pearls, quartz crystals, rhinestones, sequins, feathers, buttons.
  • Clothing, such as jeans, T-shirts, gloves, boots, hats, uniforms, jackets, flip-flops.
  • Items of a personal nature, such as human hair, cremation ashes, wedding rings, merit badges and other awards, car keys.
  • Unusual items, such as stuffed animals, records, jockstraps, condoms, and bowling balls.

Links and Resources

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