#AIDS Memorial Quilt

[queersatanic]

Happy birthday, Duane.

[walls-to-the-ball]

Amazing images of the AIDS Memorial Quilt in varying stages of being set up on the National Mall. Thanks you Smithsonian Institute for keeping these accessible.

[cuartist]

started looking through the interactive aids quilt a little bit ago, and i just saw it was worlds aids day, so I wanted to post some of the ones I screenshot

i’m gonna try and look through another column soon

[shinycoating]

Excerpts from the AIDS Memorial Quilt

[karambill]

With fondest memories of Joel Alton Thompson, 1951-1993.

[everrdy]

AIDS Memorial Quilt, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Bundles of quilt panels waiting to be put on display. The grass was still to wet to lay them out this morning. More than 3,000 panels are on display for the 35th anniversary of the quilt. Still only a small fraction of the over 50,000 total panels.

[indigoldaline]

[drakonovisny]

ahhhh i had such a lovely time today :D

[killer-wizard]

some screenshots from the aids blanket

you can find it here. please go check it out. images below the cut.

"our sylvester" and all of the names

i enjoyed the art on this quilt a lot.

"I WILL ALWAYS BE HERE!"

the pride flags shows how recent this is :( we are warriors we fight until the end

i like this clown a lot. you are loved and missed.

all these flowers are so pretty

[walls-to-the-ball]

keep your ads away from the quilt

[clamarcap]

Of Rage and Remembrance (Corigliano 85)

John Corigliano (16 febbraio 1938): I. Of Rage and Remembrance, ciaccona (composta sulla base del III movimento della Sinfonia n. 1) per voci e orchestra su testo di William M. Hoffman (1991). This is the season of stone: Dead leaves on a garden wall, Dried berries in bone-cold air, A brittle moon, An ashen sun. Bear it, Bear it, you tell me. This is the season of stone. Was there a time before…

[amtrak-official]

I think the AIDs quilt may be the most harrowing image of the AIDs Crisis there is to me, just seeing pictures of it sends shivers down my spine. Every single tile was a life that was taken too early by an apathetic world and yet there were people who cared enough for them to make the quilt to carry on their memory. It is honestly one of the most beautiful and meaningful pieces of art of the last 50 years to me

[azuremist]

“Unfinished Painting” — Keith Haring

This painting was left intentionally incomplete. Haring began it when he was dying due to complications from AIDS, and knew he didn’t have much time left. The piece represents the incomplete lives of him and many others, lost to AIDS during the crisis.

“AIDS Memorial Quilt” — Multiple

This quilt is over 50 tons heavy, and one of, if not the, largest pieces of community folk art. Many people who died of AIDS did not receive funerals, due to social stigma and many funeral homes refusing to handle the deceased’s remains, so this was one of the only ways their lives could be celebrated. Each panel was created in recognition of someone who died due to AIDS, typically by that person’s loved ones.

“Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) — Felix Gonzalez-Torres

This pile of candy weighs the same amount as Gonzalez-Torres’ partner, Ross Laycock, did. Ross Laycock had died due to AIDS-related complications earlier that same year. Visitors who see this piece are encouraged to take some of the candy. As they do so, the pile of candy weighs less and less, like how AIDS had deteriorated the body of Ross Laycock.

The SF Gay Men's Chorus

This photo was taken in 1993. The men in white are the surviving original members. Every man in black is standing in for an original member who lost their lives to AIDS.

“Electric Fan (Feel it Motherfuckers); Only Unclaimed Item from the Stephen Earabino Estate, 1997” — John Boskovich

After the death of his lover, Stephen Earabino, from AIDS, Boskovich discovered that his family had completely cleared his room, including Boskovich’s own possessions, save for this fan. An entire person, existence and relationship had been erased, just like so many lives during the AIDS crisis. Boskovich encased the fan in Plexiglass, but added cutouts so that its air may be felt by the viewer, almost like an exhalation. In a sense, restoring Earabino’s breath.

“Blue” — Derek Jarman

This was Jarman’s final feature film, released four months before his death from AIDS-related complications. These complications had left him visually impaired, able to only see in shades of blue. This film consists of a single shot of a saturated blue color, as the soundtrack to the film described Jarman’s life through narration, intercut with the adventures of Blue, a humanization of the color blue. The film's final moments consist of a set of repeated names: “John. Daniel. Howard. Graham. Terry. Paul". These are the names of former lovers and friends of Jarman who had died due to AIDS.

“Untitled” (Perfect Lovers) — Felix Gonzalez-Torres

Created by the same man who created the previous untitled piece, this piece was also inspired by his lover’s deterioration and death due to AIDS. This piece consists of two perfectly alike clocks. Over the course of time, one of the clocks will fall out of sync with the other.

In a letter written to his lover about the piece, before his lover’s passing, Gonzalez-Tourres wrote, “Don't be afraid of the clocks, they are our time, the time has been so generous to us. We imprinted time with the sweet taste of victory. We conquered fate by meeting at a certain time in a certain space. We are a product of the time, therefore we give back credit were it is due: time. We are synchronized, now forever. I love you.”

Please feel free to reblog with more additions

[antinousmondragone]

Loss and Bravery: Intimate Snapshots From the First Decade of the AIDS Crisis (ph. Sarah Krulwich, Jim Estrin, Terrence McCarthy)

1. Members of Act Up (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) demonstrating during rush hour in Grand Central Terminal (Jan. 23, 1991) 2. At Coming Home Hospice in San Francisco, David Brewster, an AIDS patient, being attended to by his friend Michael Bolleri (Jan. 29, 1989) 3. Andrew Weisser, a volunteer cook, serving a meal at Our House, a Los Angeles facility that helped people with AIDS (Jan. 29, 1989) 4. Margie Wilson dancing to a music video with her foster children, who have AIDS (May 5, 1988) 5. Volunteers at the Names Project in San Francisco sewing quilt panels to memorialize those who have died of AIDS (Sept. 23, 1987) 6. Robert Sanford, having relearned to play the piano without the benefit of sight, at a recital at the Lighthouse, a New York association for the blind 7. Near the Ugandan town of Masaka, a 28-year-old Ugandan woman being comforted by Maureen Nakimera, a social worker from an AIDS support organization (Aug. 23, 1990)

[indigoldaline]

I can’t imagine trying to fit everything about someone I love onto one single quilt. Always remembering those lost, and championing those still here.

[art-that-fucks-you-up-tournament]

FINAL

"NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt" (1985-present) / "Unfinished Painting" (1989 - Keith Haring)

NAMES PROJECT AIDS MEMORIAL QUILT: fucks me up bc so many people died and so many people suffered and their partners didn’t have legal rights as next of kin and so many had been disowned by their parents and had to be held by a stranger while they were dying and if i could resurrect anyone in the world i’d dig up either reagan or thatcher and kill them again (jaskierx) The sheer size and it's meaning make me cry every time. (artemistakenidentity)

UNFINISHED PAINTING: A self-portrait left intentionally "incomplete". I'm roughly the same age as Haring was when AIDS ended his life and I can only begin to imagine how it must feel to know that your life has been cut short a third of the way through. I get such a lump in my throat each time I look at this. (louisianna)

(The "NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt" is an ongoing community art project honoring people who passed away due to AIDS-related causes. It consists of approximately 50,000 panels of 3 by 6 feet (0.91 m × 1.83 m) panels, which is an estimated 54 tons of material. It is currently housed in San Francisco, but is often displayed in various places in the United States.

"Unfinished Painting" is an acrylic on canvas painting by Keith Haring. It measures 39 x 39 in (99 x 99 cm) and some information on it can be found on the National Portrait Gallery's website. It is currently on display at The Broad in Los Angeles. This was Haring’s last painting and it was intentionally left incomplete.)