This story was originally published by ArtsATL.
Before it was a cultural phenomenon, the AIDS Memorial Quilt began as a unique, beautiful way in the mid-1980s to remember dear ones lost to a mysterious, terrifying disease that most of mainstream society didn’t discuss because gay men were the first to be infected.
By the end of that decade, the quilt covered the ground of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. — a massive and undeniable spectacle proving that the disease had stolen a generation. The quilt has since become the largest folk art project in the world, weighing an estimated 54 tons, and continues to grow.
A new exhibition titled “Living Room, San Francisco, 1986,” is on display at the Fulton County Aviation Community Cultural Center through Oct. 15. It evokes the humble, personal origins of the memorial project by surrounding five blocks from the quilt with other art and media that suggest a home’s interior.
The living room in the exhibit’s title belonged to Nancy Pelosi — who in 1986 hadn’t yet run for Congress. But that year, AIDS activist Cleve Jones and some friends sat in Pelosi’s home and stitched the first panels of quilt in their grief. They used cloth, keepsakes, messages and first names to honor friends lost to the disease.
Credit: Morgan Wiley
Credit: Morgan Wiley
Curator Matthew Terrell said he wants exhibit viewers to understand that the deaths from AIDS are intensely personal — and to feel that they are witnesses to history. The exhibit is also a reminder, he said, of the impact that grassroots efforts can have on politics and culture. (Disclosure: Terrell is an occasional contributor to ArtsATL.)
Terrell first came up with the idea for the exhibit when he met people who worked with the NAMES Project — the organization responsible for the quilt — when its offices were in Atlanta during the first two decades of the 2000s.
His previous artwork includes a public sculpture called “Atlanta’s HIV+ Population Now,” a pyramid that displayed the rising population of locals affected by the disease using data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Through meeting the people who worked at the AIDS Quilt when it was here in Atlanta, I heard the story of how it started,” he said. “And I thought it was an interesting story to present in a gallery show in a fine arts context.”
Terrell, who also teaches communications at Kennesaw State University, pitched the exhibition to an international open call for submissions from Apexart, an educational arts institution in New York. In 2020, Terrell’s pitch placed first out of about 400 applicants, and Apexart provided funding for “Living Room, San Francisco, 1986.”
“They do very interesting, outside-the-box, daring exhibitions just because of the nature of how they choose them,” Terrell said.
Credit: Morgan Wiley
Credit: Morgan Wiley
In addition to the pieces of the quilt, the exhibition features work by contemporary artists Aubrey Longley-Cook, Dr. Cynthia Davis, Robert Sherer and Joey Terrill that help create the living room atmosphere or speak directly to the impact of AIDS.
Longley-Cook’s work features palm tree and quilt motifs, suggesting a home in California. Davis’ Dolls of Hope are created in volunteer workshops and then donated to African AIDS orphans. Sherer’s illustrations are reminiscent of Victorian-era work but use a mix of HIV-positive and HIV-negative blood as ink. Terrill’s zines were created in the 1980s to educate people about safer sex.
Terrell wanted the exhibition to include a touchable element so it includes a sample panel crafted by friends. “That was important for this show,” he said, “because people are going to want to touch the AIDS Quilt, which you can’t touch.”
Indeed, the guidelines for displaying the quilt are strict. Because of its fragility, it cannot be displayed anywhere with windows due to the damage that prolonged exposure to sunlight can cause. If panels are placed on the ground, they must be guarded while on display and taken up each night.
Additionally, the five blocks of the quilt are each 12 feet by 12 feet, which Terrell said became a challenge when determining where and how to display them.
Credit: Morgan Wiley
Credit: Morgan Wiley
The cultural center has high enough ceilings to display the pieces, but Terrell said the blocks couldn’t fit on the walls without covering electrical outlets or getting too close to air conditioning units. So he asked George Faughnan from Dad’s Garage to help him craft set pieces large enough to display the sections effectively. The solution: four constructed wall panels in a diamond pattern within the space.
“The effect is very dramatic,” Terrell said. “Normally, when you see the AIDS Quilt, it’s on the ground, and you’re standing over it. These blocks are up on the walls, and they’re looking over you. They’re very monumental.”
The quilt blocks that Terrell selected for display include a homage to Keith Haring’s artwork, a tribute to African American entertainers and celebrities lost to the disease and one of the earliest portions of the quilt.
“The earliest quilts have mostly first names on them because, at the time, circa 1986 and 1987, people were afraid of putting full names in fear of outing friends,” he said. “I found one that had mostly first names on it.”
Another block has an Atlanta connection. It was created in 1988 by members of the Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus in memory of lost members. Also part of the exhibit is a video display of 1980s-era media about AIDS, including clips of other artists lost to the disease, such as singers Freddie Mercury and Klaus Nomi.
One of the goals of the exhibition is to reach people who aren’t aware of the devastating impact of HIV — the human immunodeficiency virus — which still has no cure and infects new people worldwide every day.
“Too much work about HIV and gayness is for audiences that already know, so I wanted to take it out of that context,” Terrell said. “I wanted to translate this experience and put it into a form that a mainstream audience would understand and relate to. You have to have a larger audience interested if you want to create big social change.”
EXHIBIT
“Living Room, San Francisco, 1986”
Through Oct. 15. Various days, times. Fulton County Emma Darnell Aviation Community Cultural Center, 3900 Aviation Circle NW, Atlanta. 404-612-8600, apexart.org.
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Benjamin Carr, a member of the American Theatre Critics Association, is an arts journalist and critic who has contributed to ArtsATL since 2019. His plays have been produced at the Vineyard Theatre in Manhattan, as part of the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival and at the Center for Puppetry Arts. His novel, Impacted, was published by The Story Plant in 2021.
Credit: ArtsATL
Credit: ArtsATL
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