Aids Memorial Quilt Essay Research Paper The — страница 2

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each city, different volunteer crews helped out the small seven-person team that traveled with the quilt from city to city. Panels from people wanting their loved ones to be remembered were collected in each city and added to the quilt. At the end of the tour, the quilt was once again displayed in Washington, D.C. This time the quilt was comprised of 8,288 panels, triple the size that had started the tour. During the exhibition, celebrities, politicians, families, lovers and friends read out loud the names of those represented by the quilt panels. This tradition continues today at almost every quilt display.The impact of the quilt was worldwide after it was shown in various cities in the world on the first World AIDS Day and was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in February of

1989. A documentary, “Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt,” based on the AIDS quilt won an academy award for best feature length documentary film of 1989. After another North American tour that started in March of 1989, it was displayed in its entirety in Washington, D.C. There were 10,088 panels exhibited in this showing during its fourth year in existence.Throughout the early ’90s, the quilt began to grow in popularity and size. In 1990 it was made up of 12,200 panels and in 1991 that amount had jumped to 14,900 panels. When it was shown in Washington, D.C. for the fourth time in 1992, the panels had amounted to 20,064 and were shown at the Washington Monument where more than 600,000 people came to visit the quilt. It included panels from every state in the United

States as well as panels from twenty-eight countries. It was entitled “International Display” in honor of the global span of the panels. In January of 1993, the NAMES Project was invited to march in the Presidential Inaugural Parade for President Clinton. Over 200 volunteers and others carried the quilt panels down Pennsylvania Avenue in the parade. By the end of the year the panel count was around 27,200. The following year, the NAMES Foundation began the National High School Quilt Program, which was a project dedicated to enhancing HIV prevention curriculum in high school classrooms around the country.The NAMES project began an effort called the AIDS Memorial Quilt Archive to preserve the memories within each panel in 1994. This foundation professionally photographs the

panels in order to preserve them for future generations. Their goal is to create a permanent visual record of one of the most compelling symbols of the images and stories of the AIDS epidemic. Each panel depicts the love and loss that the family, friend or lover who created the panel felt when they lost their loved one. Letter and photos that accompany the panels document the effect of the AIDS epidemic on those who are left behind. The AIDS Memorial Quilt Archive is a way to ensure that the quilt and the people that it represents will not be forgotten by future generations.As the number of panels continues to grow, the NAMES project is reaching into different communities to bring education on HIV and AIDS to different communities. The National Interfaith Program brings sections

of the quilt to churches, synagogues and other places of worship and faith communities all over the country. Sections of the quilt have been shown at the 50th anniversary of the United Nations, in Saks Fifth Avenue stores, high schools and at the fifth display in Washington, D.C. At this showing, there were more than 40,000 panels that covered the area from the National Mall to the Washington Monument. The displays in Washington, D.C. in October are the only times that the quilt has been displayed in its entirety. There are currently 53 NAMES Project chapters in the United States and 38 affiliate branches around the world. There have been around 12,542,000 people who have visited the quilt, which is comprised of over 42,016 panels. The 80,466 names on the quilt represent

twenty-one percent of all the AIDS deaths in the United States. If all of these panels were laid out, they would cover sixteen football fields without providing walkways (with walkways they would over 25 football fields). The quilt weighs about 53 tons and would reach 48.75 miles if all the panels were laid out end to end. Countries all over the world participate and there are panels for many famous people such as Arthur Ashe, a tennis player and Eazy E, a rap artist who have been remembered after their death from AIDS. The AIDS Memorial Quilt is the largest example of a community art project in the world. Many culture have traditions based in fabric arts. The quilt is based on the American tradition in which neighbors and relatives would gather to sew old scraps of clothing