UK AIDS Memorial Quilt Display Opening Night

We are incredibly excited for Wakefield to be the first city to welcome the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt in its entirety, outside of London.

In partnership with UK AIDS Memorial Quilt Partnership, all 42 blocks will be displayed at WX and selected individual panels will be presented in various locations around the district. Also on display at WX will be the recently rediscovered documentary film There Is A Light That Never Goes Out, about the 1994 Hyde Park display of the Quilt.

The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt consists of 42 quilts and 23 individual panels, representing over 384 individuals affected by HIV and AIDS. It is part of the world’s largest community art project, started in the USA in 1985 by activist Cleve Jones, commemorating friends, family and loved ones lost to AIDS. Individual panels were stitched together to create larger quilts, which were then shown outdoors as a form of protest to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS.

Seven UK HIV support charities formed the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt Partnership in 2014 to conserve and display the quilt. Today it stands as an important reminder of those who were lost and of the fact that HIV and AIDS continue to affect people and communities today.

We hope you can join us for this very special evening that will include a private viewing of the quilt, as well as an optional panel discussion for those who wish to attend in the adjoining Factory space from 7pm.

Arrival from 5pm, speeches from 6pm.