UK AIDS Memorial Quilt Exhibition
An irreplaceable piece of social historyThe UK AIDS Memorial Quilt was created in the 1990s, to commemorate and remember the lives lost in the early years of the HIV AIDS epidemic. The Quilt is made up of 48 pieces. METRO Charity, in collaboration with Woolwich Works and the Royal Borough of Greenwich, are honoured to be able to show so many of them here.
Each piece of the Quilt contains up to eight smaller panels which were created by friends, lovers or family of people who died of HIV or AIDS. Creating these panels helped the grieving process for so many of those left behind. Many of the pieces were made in workshops at the London Lighthouse hospice.
The Quilt is an irreplaceable piece of social history. It is a patchwork of many personal memories, coming together to form a public memorial. The Quilt functions as both folk art and protest, a time capsule and a record of just some of the lives lost too soon. It is both a celebration of humanity and an expression of grief – of both individuals and whole communities. Many of the panels have an accompanying folder about the person being commemorated – containing photographs and letters.
'The AIDS epidemic and the appalling number of lives taken by it was all too often portrayed in the media as being about a faceless mass of unknown people. In truth, of course, it was an all too large patchwork of individual stories; of real people with names and lives, with loved ones and families and careers and talents never quite allowed to reach fruition. How better to represent that than through the AIDS quilt, which gives individuality back to so many people who risked becoming mere statistics?'Jay Rayner
Some of the 384 panels are tributes to individuals, while some are tributes to whole groups or regions. Some of the lives remembered on the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt include:
- Mark Ashton, activist
- Bruce Chatwin, writer
- Ian Charleson, actor
- John Curry OBE, figure skater and Olympic Gold Medallist
- Denholm Elliot, actor
- Keith Haring, artist
- Derek Jarman, artist and film maker
- Robert Mapplethorpe, photographer
- Don Melia, publicist and publisher
- Freddie Mercury, musician
- Michael Sundin, actor, dancer, puppeteer, Blue Peter presenter
The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt Conservation Partnership is made up of the following charities, who we would like to thank:
- Positive East
- George House Trust
- Terrence Higgins Trust
- The Food Chain
- Sahir House
- Positively UK