Quilt panel requests for MVCC exhibit due by Sept. 29

Sections of the internationally celebrated AIDS Memorial Quilt — the 54-ton, handmade tapestry that serves as a memorial to more than 110,000 individuals lost to AIDS — will be on display during the first week of December at Mohawk Valley Community College in honor of World AIDS Day (Dec. 1). This free exhibition, sponsored by MVCC Student Congress, is open to the public and hosted by MVCC’s LGBTQ Workgroup, which is seeking community involvement to make the event even more meaningful to the Mohawk Valley.

If you would like to request a specific panel of The Quilt that represents a loved one for possible inclusion in the display, please email your request to jfanelli@mvcc.edu. The group will collect requests to submit to the NAMES Project Foundation; the deadline for requests is Sept. 29, 2024. 

Established in 1987, The NAMES Project Foundation is the international organization that serves as the custodian of The AIDS Memorial Quilt. The Quilt began with a single 3-by-6-foot panel created in San Francisco. Today, it comprises more than 50,000 individual panels, each commemorating the life of someone who has died of AIDS. These panels come from every state in the nation and every corner of the globe, sewn by hundreds of thousands of friends, lovers, and family members into this epic memorial, the largest piece of ongoing community art in the world. In the fight against a disease that has no cure, The Quilt has evolved as a powerful tool in the effort to educate people about the lethal threat of AIDS. By revealing the humanity behind the statistics, The Quilt helps teach compassion, triumphs over taboo, stigma, and phobia, and inspires individuals to take direct responsibility for their own well-being and that of their family, friends, and community. 

For more information on The NAMES Project and The AIDS Memorial Quilt, visit www.aidsmemorial.org.