Portion of AIDS Quilt on Display at UTA Libraries

Students, faculty, staff, and the public will see firsthand the impact of the AIDS virus on countless lives through a new exhibit. A portion of the AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on display from Oct. 24 through Oct. 29 in the sixth-floor atrium at the UTA Central Library. 

Kathryn Slover, a Digital archivist with Special Collections and Archives, stated the AIDS Memorial Quilt is a powerful exhibit showing this disease's impact. 

"We are bringing a block of the AIDS Memorial Quilt to campus, which will be exhibited outside Special Collections," Kathryn said. "The block features several different panels, which are dedicated to a specific individual commemorating their lives. The people that are commemorated on the quilt died of AIDS-related complications." 

Kathryn stated that one block that features eight panels measures 12 by 12 feet. This one block commemorates eight people and is dedicated to people from Fort Worth.   

This exhibit is not the first-time a portion of the quilt has been shown at UTA. It has been displayed four times, with its last display in 2013. 

The National AIDS Memorial website states that the quilt was conceived in November 1985 by human rights activist, author and lecturer Cleve Jones. The AIDS Memorial Quilt is a 54-ton tapestry with nearly 50,000 panels dedicated to more than 110,000 individuals.  

Each year, the National AIDS Memorial works with hundreds of partners across the country to orchestrate more than 1,000 displays in schools, universities, places of worship, corporations and community centers. The quilt can also be viewed and searched virtually at www.aidsmemorial.org/interactive-aids-quilt.  

Kathryn stated she hopes that the AIDS quilt will make people want to learn more about national and local stories about AIDS, its impact here at UTA and the LBGTQ+ community. She shared that Special Collections has started compiling the history of the LBGTQ+ community and will have a mini-exhibit on display with the quilt. 

"The exhibit gives a brief history of the quilt as a national movement, but also the history of the quilt on UTA's campus and ending with AIDS activism in DFW," Kathryn said.  

Kathryn stated the exhibit does a good job in complementing the quilt telling the national and local stories.  

The AIDS Memorial Quilt will run from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. from Oct. 24- Oct. 29 on the sixth-floor atrium of the UTA Central Library. The mini-exhibit will run 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Tuesday – Saturday in the Special Collections Department on the sixth floor of the UTA Central Library. 

More information about the AIDS Memorial Quilt exhibit can be found on the UTA Libraries website at https://libraries.uta.edu.