Connecting Panels and People: The AIDS Quilt’s Outreach Across Space and Time (2025)

Since 1985, the AIDS Memorial Quilt has been used to protest government inaction in response to the HIV/AIDS crisis, and to memorialize its victims, becoming history’s largest ongoing community arts project. Today, panels of this quilt are mounted mostly in temporary exhibitions in American museums, libraries, airports, churches, and other public spaces. A historical review reveals the Quilt’s evolution, and acquired spreadsheet data contributes to map creation which generalizes the project’s outreach across 21st century America. The Quilt’s impact is fostered through its curation in a diverse array of public spaces and its openness to continuous contributions, in every corner of the country. This research is posed to highlight the current life of the AIDS Memorial Quilt in the ongoing fight against HIV/AIDS. Its vast outreach lies in its accessible presence physically and digitally, sharing stories across space and time to save lives.