This is your last week to see "The AIDS Memorial Quilt" on display, pre-security, in the Mayor Edwin M. Lee International Terminal Departures Hall and online at: https://bit.ly/AIDSQuiltSFO
Critical funding, research, education, and unlimited access to treatment all lie ahead of the Quilt’s ultimate goal. Unfortunately, HIV/AIDS continues to devastate at-risk populations living in low-income areas and underdeveloped countries. While an estimated 39.9 million people were living with HIV worldwide in 2023, only 30.7 million people were accessing antiretroviral therapy. That year, approximately 630,000 people died of AIDS-related illnesses.
"The AIDS Memorial Quilt" is on display, pre-security, in the Mayor Edwin M. Lee International Terminal Departures Hall and online at: https://bit.ly/AIDSQuiltSFO
In 2003, the NAMES Project initiated “Call My Name” to reflect the changing dynamic of the AIDS epidemic and its disproportionate impact on people of color. Through focused panel making and displays, “Call My Name” raises awareness of the negative effects that stigma and prejudice have on prevention and treatment. In 2004, AIDS-related illnesses were the leading cause of death for African American women between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-four.
"The AIDS Memorial Quilt" is on display, pre-security, in the Mayor Edwin M. Lee International Terminal Departures Hall and online at: https://bit.ly/AIDSQuiltSFO
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“Hand Maidens of the Quilt” appliqué 1988
Gert McMullin (b. 1955)
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McMullin, who is affectionately known as the “Mother of the Quilt,” has made over one hundred panels. Drawn to the NAMES Project after nearly fifty of her friends were lost to AIDS, she also managed fellow “Hand Maidens of the Quilt” who made emergency repairs during displays. McMullin currently works for the National AIDS Memorial as Quilt Conservator & Production Manager. Jack Caster, along with so many other NAMES Project volunteers, is memorialized in the Quilt.
When the NAMES Project was formed in June 1987, a small group of volunteers including Gert McMullin (b. 1955) and Jack Caster (1943–89) furiously began making panels, sewing them into the Quilt alongside panels received from the community. They facilitated panel-making workshops in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood, relying on donated supplies and equipment requested by a “Wish List” in the storefront window.
Today is World AIDS Day. On the inaugural World AIDS Day, December 1, 1988, the AIDS Memorial Quilt was on display simultaneously across 6 continents—just 18 months after its inception. The following year, in 1989, the AIDS Memorial Quilt and was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Nearly four decades later, with new panels received almost daily and hundreds of displays every year, the AIDS Memorial Quilt continues to grow and evolve in the hope of ending the epidemic.
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Block 6022 2023
various makers
Courtesy of the National AIDS Memorial
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David Wojnarowicz at ACT UP FDA demonstration, Rockville, Maryland, October 11, 1988
Photo by Bill Dobbs
Copyright Bill Dobbs
Courtesy of the Estate of David Wojnarowicz and P·P·O·W, New York
"The AIDS Memorial Quilt" is on display, pre-security, in the Mayor Edwin M. Lee International Terminal Departures Hall and online at: https://bit.ly/AIDSQuiltSFO
SFO Museum