Sewn in Memory features over a dozen quilt panels originally made in the 1980s and early 1990s for the National AIDS Memorial Quilt, in Washington, DC. Each of the panels commemorates a person who died of AIDS, or of an AIDS-related ailment. The panels were created mostly by friends and family of the deceased, but sometimes panels were quilted by strangers moved to commemorate and build awareness about the toll of the AIDS pandemic. This is the first showing of the panels since 1993, when they were displayed in the Illini Union at UIUC.
Sewn in Memory is a community-curated show created with our collaborators, the Greater Community AIDS Project of East Central Illinois (GCAP), who holds the panels and assisted in exhibit research and creation; History Harvest, a course here at UIUC, which seeks to gather historical stories and documents from local communities; and Illinois Public Media (WILL), which is working on documentary films about the panels with UIUC Journalism students.
Sewn in Memory: AIDS Quilt Panels from Central Illinois runs from Nov. 2, 2021 to July 10, 2022.
Funding for the Exhibit generously provided by the Dr. Allan C. and Marlene S. Campbell Fund.