Colorful. Personal. Heartbreaking. The AIDS Memorial Quilt — one of the world’s most powerful symbols of the public’s response to the AIDS epidemic — returns to the nation’s capital this summer for two major programs.
The quilt, which is based in Atlanta at the NAMES Project Foundation, will be part of this summer’s “Quilt in the Capital” events.
The 54-ton quilt will be shown at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall (June 27-July 8), an event that uses craft, dance, music and interactive discussions to demonstrate how communities educate about and cope with AIDS. It will be located near the Capitol building.
Portions of the quilt will also be displayed on the Mall during the International AIDS Conference (July 21-25), and showcased in more than 40 locations, including national parks, monuments, museums and airports in the Washington, D.C., area.
The quilt began with a single 3-by-6 panel and now has 48,000 panels sewn by more than 100,000 friends and family members whose loved ones were taken by AIDS.
