AIDS Memorial Quilt

The AIDS Memorial Quilt, also called the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, is a memorial made of individual fabric panels, each measuring 3 by 6 feet, that celebrate the lives of people who died of AIDS-related causes. It was conceived in 1987 by gay rights activist Cleve Jones and San Francisco volunteers after Jones lost his friend Marvin Feldman. Jones made the first panel in Feldman's memory. The Quilt was first displayed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in October 1987, where it covered a space larger than a football field. It has since grown to more than 50,000 panels and is one of the largest pieces of community folk art in the world. It is now cared for by the National AIDS Memorial.