The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt started from a candlelight vigil in 1985.
Cleve Jones had asked friends whose loved ones had died from AIDS to write the names of the deceased on placards. When Jones saw all those posters taped to a wall, he got the idea of making a quilt.
Because many of those who died from AIDS at the time were not even able to have a funeral due to the stigma of having the disease, Jones soon realize that the quilts could also serve as a memorial.
“We in the LGBT community understood what was happening in the early 80’s,” says Jones. “We had to create systems of care and support ourselves.”
ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) is a grassroots medical advocacy that helped convince the pharmaceutical industry to conduct faster clinical trials and helped institute the practice of compassionate care.point 427 |
But in order to translate the AIDS Memorial Quilt from an idea into reality, Jones needed someone who knew how to sew.point 97 | That’s how a woman named Gert McMullin came into the picture.point 154 | 1
“My mom died when I was 9 years old,” says McMullin, now 64. “I didn’t like being poor, and I liked having outfits, so I took her sewing machine and I taught myself.” She is an employee of the National Aids Memorial, the current custodian of the quilt.
“Cleve told me what size to make the panels,” says McMullin. “I actually put my address on them. I was scared they would get thrown away.”
But the panels had a huge impact on the loved ones of those who passed away due to AIDS.
The National AIDS Memorial had plans to put the quilt on display in early April to celebrate the 48,000 panels “coming home,” as Jones and McMullin put it. But because of the coronavirus pandemic, those plans were put on hold.
It was a feeling of deja vu for McMullin and that’s when she realized she knew what to do. Going back to her sewing machine, she started sewing masks.
These masks were being made from the leftover fabric of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and it couldn’t have been more symbolic. These masks are benefiting the workers at facilities run by Bay Area Community Services, servicing homeless people and those suffering from addiction.
“During the AIDS crisis, I could go and do something,” she says. “But now, I can’t. I’m not used to sitting around and helping people.”
Replaced!