A Patchwork of Remembered Lives: Entire U.K. AIDS Memorial Quilt on Show at Tate Modern This June

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The entirety of the U.K. AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on rare public display this summer in the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern, London.

From 12 to 16 June, the 42 quilts and 23 individual panels representing nearly 400 individuals affected by HIV and AIDS will be exhibited to raise awareness of the global HIV crisis.

A live reading of their names will be held on 14 June.

Beginning in the U.S. in 1985, the quilt project was later expanded internationally by Scottish activist Alistair Hulme, who coordinated the U.K. version after witnessing an early display in San Francisco.

In 2014, seven U.K. HIV support charities formed the U.K. AIDS Memorial Quilt Partnership to conserve and display the quilt.

Founding partnership member Siobhán Lanigan highlighted the importance of breaking down the stigma surrounding the lives commemorated by the quilt: ‘Everything we can do to break down that stigma is of great value. This is one big step in that direction that can be built upon in future displays.’

Meanwhile, Tate Modern director Karin Hindsbo stressed the quilt’s global and local significance: ‘Tate Modern is all about exploring connections between the global and the local,’ she said, emphasising the quilt’s relevance in addressing both a global pandemic and individual lives in local contexts, while linking an international activist network and a local creative community.

‘The quilt is an incredible feat of creative human expression and I know our visitors are going to find it a deeply moving experience.’ —[O]

Main image: Courtesy U.K. AIDS Memorial Quilt Partnership.