The AIDS Quilt

A stunning feature of the AIDS Quilt is its explosive growth. The quilt was first publicly displayed in 1987, when it consisted of slightly less than 2,000 panels. At a public exhibition in 1990, the quilt comprised 10,000 panels. By 1992, the quilt included more than 20,000 panels, with an additional 4,000 panels brought to a demonstration in Washington: "The steady rise in the number of panels over the past five years reflects the progression of the epidemic in this country" (Weinberg 37). By 1994, the entire AIDS quilt covered an area of five football fields and had been viewed by more than two million people around the world (Carson, Sankaran, McConantha, and Cinelli 313).

Involvement in the AIDS Quilt project is open to anyone. Each 3x6 foot panel bears the name of a person who has died of HIV-related diseases. The project has generated the participation of individuals and groups across the country. Although materials are limited to those that are durable and can be easily folded, contributors are unrestricted in terms of artistic expression

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of repair. The AIDS Quilt has no fixed location and continues to grow. It is impossible to estimate its ultimate dimension: "Its increasing size, and the fact that it can barely be contained or even experienced all at once, serve to dramatize a present reality over which we seem to have no control" (Hawkins 762-763). In addition, the AIDS Quilt receives no public funding and has no official status. These qualities underscore the unique grass roots effort the quilt represents. The AIDS Quilt harkens back to the tradition when women created mourning quilts that paid tribute to the dead. Some quilts were pieced together from clothing belonging to the deceased. Other works used the quilter's own clothing. Regardless of the material used, the mourning quilt was an important component of the grief process: " . . . making a quilt might be a major part of the bereavement process itself, enabling the quilter not only to hold on to the deceased but also to let go" (Hawkins 767). The purpose of the AIDS Quilt is two-fold: to express private loss and to expose governmental indifference. The organizers of the AIDS Quilt insist that theirs is not a political movement: "We don't use the rhetoric of the gay liberation movement
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Approximate Word count = 2659
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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