Students and staff sewed and decorated fabric sections of a panel for the AIDS Memorial Quilt, which is considered the largest community art project ever, on Tuesday afternoon.
Gathering at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, students decorated their own small sections for the quilt and learned about self-care habits ahead of World AIDS Day on Dec. 1. Students previously met at the center to work on the patchwork quilt panel Friday. The events were hosted by the Queer Student Union and LGBTQ+ Culture Center.
The AIDS Memorial Quilt is an art project meant to commemorate the lives and stories of those who have died from HIV/AIDS, with nearly 50,000 panels dedicated to over 110,000 people. QSU President Kyleigh Brown said the organization chose to create a panel for the quilt so that queer students would be more aware of the history surrounding the AIDS epidemic.
Worldwide, over 39 million people have died of AIDS since 1981, including 500,000 people in the United States, where 1.1 million people live with HIV/AIDS each year. People with HIV/AIDS faced increasing social stigma as the epidemic peaked in the 1980s and 1990s.
“My viewpoint is that IU has a lot of future leaders in it, and by teaching history about HIV and AIDS, we can make sure that the mistakes that led to that crisis being so large don't happen again,” Brown said.
The memorial quilt project began in San Francisco, but has expanded across the nation, with nine state and city chapters, including one in Indiana. The first display of the quilt was at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in 1987 with 1,920 panels.
The panel QSU is making will be 3 feet by 6 feet, comprising smaller fabric squares made by each person.
Since its inaugural display, the quilt has traveled across the country to raise funds and awareness for AIDS. Sections of the 54-ton tapestry are distributed across the country for display on World AIDS Day, including at the Indiana Memorial Union from Dec. 1 to Dec. 5.
One attendee, Keaton Evans-Black, an arts-based wellness experiences manager at the Eskenazi Museum of Art, said he loves to see the events the center plans.
“I just always appreciate how many different events use art as part of their rest and relaxation vibes,” Evans-Black said. “Because it helps people understand that making art can be relaxing.”
Collaboration between campus organizations has been an important part of making the quilt panel, and other World AIDS Day events, possible. Evans-Black planned to bring some of the art supplies to the Eskenazi Museum so the Common Threads fiber art group he organizes could contribute to the panel.
“Even though I'm not super comfortable with hand sewing, I'm much more of a machine sewing person, but it's still nice to be able to put your hands on something and know that it's going to be part of something bigger,” Evans-Black said.
The LGBTQ+ Culture Center will be collaborating with student, campus and community organizations to hold more events the week of World AIDS Day , including HIV and sexually- transmitted infection testing, a sexual health presentation at the IMU on Monday and HIV/STI testing at the center Thursday.
Three Indiana panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on display throughout the week of World AIDS Day at the IMU. Upon completion, the QSU panel will be sent to San Francisco, where the full quilt is housed.
Sections of the quilt have been displayed at IU previously, most recently in 2022, when the Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention honored the quilt project’s co-founder, Cleve Jones, a native of West Lafayette, Indiana, with the Ryan White Distinguished Leadership Award.
