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International AIDS Memorial Quilt to be exhibited at WCU
The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, an international monument to those who have died of AIDS, will be on display Feb. 11-14 in the Grandroom of Hinds University Center at Western Carolina University.
Described as "one of the greatest memorials of our time – and one of history's most powerful works of political art," the Quilt is the largest ongoing community arts project in the world and a powerful tool for AIDS education and prevention.
A portion of The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on display Friday, Feb. 11, through Monday, Feb. 14, in the Hinds University Grandroom at Western Carolina University. The display will feature 128 3-foot by 6-foot panels. Above, a WCU student looks at the panels that were displayed at Western in 1998.
The display will feature 128 3-foot by 6-foot panels, each commemorating the life of someone who had died of AIDS. This is a portion of the entire AIDS Memorial Quilt, which includes more than 45,000 individual panels, made by friends, family members and other loved ones, and including a wide variety of materials, from wedding rings to bubble-wrap, from cowboy boots to Barbie dolls.
The Quilt display will begin with an opening ceremony at noon Friday, Feb. 11, in the Grandroom. Teams of volunteers will unfold the Quilt while local residents read aloud the names of some of those lost to AIDS. Russ Bowen, Western North Carolina bureau chief for WLOS-TV News 13, will serve as master of ceremonies.
Nationally recognized speaker Elaine Pasqua, who has lost two parents to AIDS, is a featured speaker for the Quilt display. She will deliver a presentation Sunday, Feb. 13, at 7:30 p.m. in Western's Ramsey Center. A reception will immediately follow Pasqua's presentation.
"The Quilt reminds us of the reality of those affected by HIV/AIDS and the need to promote changes in our culture and behavior to prevent and fight this disease," said Cari Robertson, wellness coordinator at Western Carolina University.
Local organizers of the exhibition are seeking volunteers to assist with various aspects of the display.
The Quilt began in 1987 in San Francisco when Cleve Jones spray-painted a friend's name onto a piece of cloth approximately the size of a grave. Friends, acquaintances and strangers joined Jones' effort by creating panels of their own, and soon, thousands of people around the world were adding names and expressing their emotions by creating hand-made memorials.
Today, portions of the quilt are displayed worldwide to encourage visitors to better understand and respond to AIDS. The Quilt also provides a positive means of expression for those grieving the death of a loved one.
The opening ceremony, Quilt exhibition and Pasqua's presentation are open to the public free of charge.
The Quilt display at Western is sponsored in part by WestCare Health System.
For more information about the Quilt or volunteer opportunities associated with the February display at Western, call Julie Walters-Steele at 227-3618 or Sara Stoltenburg, director of the Women's Center, at 227-3982.
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