Six AIDS Memorial Quilt panels arrive in Dayton for ‘Wall Power’ exhibit

Visitors to the Dayton Art Institute (DAI) will soon be able to see an iconic piece of LGBTQ+ history. A section of the AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on display from October 17 through January 3 as part of the exhibit “Wall Power: Spectacular Quilts from the American Folk Art Museum.”

Originally conceived by activist Cleve Jones as The Names Project in 1985, the AIDS Memorial Quilt was created to honor, remember and celebrate the people lost to the virus, many of whom did not have proper burials or memorial services.

Individuals in Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco – the cities hardest hit by HIV/AIDS – began sending in panels to the original San Francisco workshop, culminating in the quilt’s first showing of nearly 2,000 panels in 1987 in Washington D.C. covering a football field-sized space. Over the years, as the quilt toured the country, thousands of new panels were added. When the quilt was last displayed in its entirety in 1996, it covered the entire National Mall: nearly two miles.

Dayton will host six of the quilt’s 50,000 panels, each consisting of eight individual remembrances stitched together.

“With 72 feet of quilted panels, 12 feet high, this display is going to really make a statement,” said Jerry Smith, DAI head curator.

Smith explained that including the six panels in the exhibition recognizes both the AIDS Quilt’s artistic contribution as well as its social power. 

“The panels are a clear example of how people tell stories and history using textiles, and they specifically remind people of the remarkable and mind-numbing loss that has occurred and still occurs,” Smith said.

To select the six panels, Smith scrolled through an online directory of over 6,000 available panels, specifically looking for Dayton-area connections, panels with recognizable artistic influence or ones with just striking imagery. 

He was certainly affected by scrolling through the sheer amount of loss represented in the panels, sometimes having to take a break to catch his breath. He compared the experience to visiting a Holocaust museum. 

But hope is also stitched into the panels.

“Seeing the panels can also bring back positive memories and thoughts about lost loved ones, and that connection can help create an environment for fostering empathy,” Smith said.

Dr. Bob Brandt Jr., a retired Dayton-area physician, hopes that the Memorial Quilt display will remind viewers of the past while also providing an “offering of hope for a better future.” 

Brandt diagnosed his first HIV-related patient in 1983, and went on to care for thousands of patients living with HIV/AIDS over his storied career. A diagnosis is no longer a death sentence, and today people living with HIV/AIDS can live long and productive lives.

“However, there are still around 30,000 newly diagnosed infections every year and we have no viable cure or vaccine,” he said.

Brandt Jr. adds that today, unfortunately, the virus has been delegated to “a seat at the back of the bus,” because of the lack of social discourse around HIV/AIDS combined with the Trump administration’s attempts to cut HIV/AIDS-related research and funding.”

“The Memorial Quilt reminds us of how much progress we’ve made and yet how we need to push forward even more,” he said. 🔥

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IGNITE ACTION

• The six panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt will be displayed from October 17 through January 3 as part of the “Wall Power: Spectacular Quilts from the American Folk Art Museum” at the Dayton Art Institute. For more information, visit their website here. 
• There are exhibit sponsorship opportunities for those wanting to support the display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. For more information on sponsorships, go here.