[ROMSpeaks] Stitching Grief: The AIDS Memorial Quilt

Name: [ROMSpeaks] Stitching Grief: The AIDS Memorial Quilt
Start: 2024-10-30T19:00:00-04:00
End: 2024-10-30T21:30:00-04:00
Location: 100 Queen's Park , Toronto, ON, Canada, Ontario M5S 2C6

Schedule

Wed Oct 30 2024 at 07:00 pm to 09:30 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

100 Queen's Park , Toronto, ON, Canada, Ontario M5S 2C6 | Toronto, ON

Making its first public appearance in 1987 during the early years of the AIDS pandemic, the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt is a powerful, living memorial celebrating the lives of people who had died of AIDS-related causes. The inaugural quilt was comprised of 1,920 panels covering an area larger than a football field, and in 1996 had grown to include more than 40,000 panels, which stretched from the Washington Monument to the U.S. Capitol when displayed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Today, the AIDS Memorial Quilt is accessible online and features 50,000 panels with nearly 110,000 names of those who died of AIDS-related causes sewn into it.
Join activist Cleve Jones, the AIDS Memorial Quilt's visionary founder, and Canadian AIDS Society Executive Director Ken Miller, for an intimate, candid conversation, moderated by journalist Valerie Pringle, on the legacy of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and the Canadian AIDS Society. Through stories, news, and life events, these two visionaries explore the relationship between textile arts, intimacy and care, and the politics surrounding craft and the AIDS epidemic. The evening also features a live performance by Forte – Toronto Gay Men's Chorus.
Completing the evening is a tour of the ROM original exhibition Quilts: Made in Canada, a meet-and-greet reception, and opportunities to purchase books on the topics discussed.