Explore the Quilt

The collection of UK AIDS Quilts were made between 1989 and 1996 to commemorate friends, lovers and family members who passed away from an AIDS related illness during this time. You can zoom in to some of the specific details listed below.

The top two panels remembers Graham Wilkinson and David Mankaba respectively.

The second panel on the left remembers Philip Munro with a line of text at the bottom that says ‘Now You are in this Place with the aborigines to guard you and the tourists that come to visit, there can be little time for loneliness xx’. Above the text there are some happy spirits flying on top of a mountain.

The third panel on the left was made for Joseph Beam by Arthur, he wrote a letter to thank Joseph and quoted his words ‘I dare us to dream’. Joseph was the author of ‘In the Life’, board member of the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays, founding editor of Black/Out magazine and more. He was a cultural and political activist dedicated to ending racism, homophobia, heterosexism, and the debilitating oppressions spawned by the patriarchy.

The fourth panel on the left remembers Kevin John Dodd with all the messages from his family and friends, there is a picture of him and other animated drawings of trees, flowers, frogs and Mickey Mouse. In the letter from his mum and a few others, it mentions that Kevin ‘was a very caring and understanding person’, ‘put others first no matter how he was feeling’, and was involved in a lot of projects related to AIDS.

The second panel on the right was made by Royston in memory of his friend Stephen Fellows, he put the three things Stephen was proud of on the panel – being Jewish, Gay and British.

The third panel on the right was ‘dedicated to all woman lost to AIDS or who act as carers and whose lives and love has yet to be named’ by Arthur. It also ‘honours a friend’s mother who died with AIDS’.

The fourth panel on the right was made for Irish John with his name letters filled with country names. Below his name the text reads ‘his spirit lives on’, surrounded by embroideries of AIDS ribbons, religious signs and shapes of hearts, as well as longer paragraphs of messages.