As part of the observance of World AIDS Day today (December 1), the iconic AIDS Memorial Quilt is on display in Founders Great Hall through December 4. The Quilt, which began in 1987 as a project to commemorate those that lost their lives to AIDS, has become the largest ongoing community art project in the world and it now travels around the country to be displayed at numerous colleges and public spaces.
The Quilt serves as both a memorial and a tool to help people understand the staggeringly widespread effects of the disease. It is currently made up of more than 44,000 panels, each of them 3 ft. x 6 ft., which were sewn as tributes to people who have died from AIDS. The Quilt now measures over 1,293,300 square feet, contains more than 91,000 names, and has raised more than $4 million for AIDS research and victim support.
Though Founders is hosting just a small part of the huge AIDS Memorial Quilt—displays in Washington, D.C. in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992 and 1996 are the only ones to have featured the Quilt in its entirety—it still helps give viewers a glimpse at the enormity of the disease and those who have been affected by it.
Stop by Founders to see this powerful art project in person. Viewing hours are between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m.
–Nora Landis-Shack ’13