What are AIDS Memorial Quilts?
AIDS Memorial Quilts are poignant tributes to people who have died of AIDS-related illnesses. The quilts are large, made up of rectangular panels typically measuring around 2 metres by 1 metre, representing the dimensions of a grave plot.
The panels include dedications and personal items often made by partners, family members and friends of people who have passed away.
While its primary purpose is commemorative, AIDS Memorial Quilts are a powerful tool for education about HIV/AIDS in Australia.
In a complementary effort to honour and preserve these collective memories, the National Association of People with HIV Australia (NAPWHA) has launched the Tracing our memories database. The database ensures that the stories, creativity, and resilience of those affected by HIV remain visible and accessible to future generations.
History of AIDS Memorial Quilts
The story of the AIDS Memorial Quilt began in San Francisco in 1985, when activist Cleve Jones, during the night of the candlelight vigil remembering Harvey Milk (assassinated in 1978), asked participants to tape placards with names of people they knew who had passed, to the walls of the San Francisco Federal Building, forming a visual resembling a quilt. This inspired the creation of actual fabric panels each commemorating a life lost.
The first official display of the quilt occurred during the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1987, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C, with 1,920 panels.
The first Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt
A quilt with 35 panels was launched in Sydney on World AIDS Day 1988 establishing the Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt Project. In the following years, AIDS memorial quilts were created all around Australia, in each state and territory. Community groups came together to remember and reflect on the lives of those lost to AIDS-related illnesses.
In 2007, the Quilt Project made the Powerhouse Museum the custodian of the, then, 97 blocks of the Australian Memorial Quilt, giving it a permanent home.
Local groups of the Quilt Project now exist across Australia.
AIDS Memorial Quilts locations across Australia
NSW
Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt
The 122 quilt blocks with eight panels per block are currently stored at the Powerhouse Museum in Castle Hill, Sydney, and visits to view particular blocks can be arranged. The blocks have also been digitised and made available on the Museum’s website.
Powerhouse Museum collection. Gift of the Quilt Project Sydney, 2011. Photographer Jonathan Stokkland.
Victoria
Melbourne AIDS Memorial Quilt
Thorne Harbour Health in Melbourne is the custodian of the Melbourne AIDS Memorial Quilt, which counts 209 panels sewn onto 27 blocks. Each block is 12 x 12 feet (or approx. 3.56 x 3.56 metres).
The Melbourne Quilt has a public and historic role in response to the epidemic. It has ongoing value as a visible tool for public display and interaction. For that reason, Heritage Victoria has listed the Melbourne AIDS Memorial Quilt as a valued state heritage item.
This is a globally unique recognition by a state body with whom Thorne Harbour Health partner with for its preservation whilst respecting its continued public role.
Thorne Harbour Health display the Quilt blocks each World AIDS Day at the Positive Living Centre, in public buildings, theatres, cathedrals and churches. View an inventory of the panels and blocks from the quilt.
Location:
Thorne Harbour Health’s Positive Living Centre
31 to 51 Commercial Rd.
South Yarra, VIC
South Australia
South Australia’s AIDS Memorial Quilt
Thorne Harbour Health South Australia and South Australia Mobilisation and Empowerment for Sexual Health (SAMESH) are the custodians of a part of the South Australia collection of AIDS memorial quilt blocks, produced in the 1980s and 1990s by the loved ones of those lost to AIDS-related illnesses. Other blocks of the SA Memorial Quilt are housed at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.
SAMESH regularly displays the South Australia AIDS Memorial Quilt, offering the public an opportunity to reflect on and learn about the history of HIV/AIDS in South Australia.
For information on future opportunities to view the Quilt, please contact skye.bartlett@samesh.org.au
Credit: Skye Bartlett – SAMESH
Western Australia
Western Australia’s AIDS Memorial Quilt
The Western Australia's AIDS Memorial Quilt is cared for by the WA Museum and has been displayed each December in recent years.
In addition, a Digital Quilt project has been initiated, incorporating oral histories and soon sharing the stories behind each panel.
Learn more at the WA Museum website.
Queensland
Brisbane AIDS Memorial Quilt
Last publicly displayed on 27 April 2016 at the Queensland AIDS Council the Queensland panels are now housed at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.
A previous exhibition took place at the University of the Sunshine Coast Art Gallery.
Learn more at AIDSmemorial.info