Smithsonian Displays Its Own AIDS Memorial Quilt Panel
Created by Smithsonian volunteers and staff, the panel will be on view in the Kogod Courtyard one day only, July 17
Smithsonian’s panel will be added to the official AIDS Memorial Quilt. Image courtesy of American Art Museum
Since October 2012, more than 140 Smithsonian volunteers and staff have worked together to create a panel for the AIDS Memorial Quilt, a Nobel Peace Prize-nominated community art project commemorating the AIDS crisis. The Quilt was last displayed in full at the 2012 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, when it covered 1.3 million square feet of the National Mall.
Smithsonian’s panel measures 12 x 12 feet and weighs more than 20 pounds. The top half is a fabric representation of the Smithsonian Castle with knitted and crocheted foliage, while the bottom is made up of personal memorials to loved ones and miniature versions of existing panels in the Quilt. This labor of love will be on view only on July 17, 11:30 to 4:00, in the Kogod Courtyard of the American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery, after which it will be transferred to the NAMES Project to join 48,000 other panels in the AIDS Memorial Quilt.