Stitching Communities & the AIDS Memorial Quilt

Artistic quilt with messages of solidarity. — AIDS Memorial Quilt panel 0232, photo courtesy of the National AIDS Memorial.

Dec. 1, 2022-Feb. 17, 2023

Thacher Gallery

The AIDS Memorial Quilt stands as an enduring monument to love, loss, and the power of art to bring communities together. Started in a storefront on Market Street in San Francisco’s Castro District in 1985, the Quilt is now celebrated as the largest community arts project in the world: a poignant and visually arresting memorial to those who have died—and are still dying—of AIDS around the globe.

Stitching Communities and the AIDS Memorial Quilt features five blocks of the Quilt, as well as related archival objects from the collection of the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco. Together, they showcase the early history of the AIDS epidemic, and the continued power of the Quilt to memorialize, celebrate, and unify. By examining themes of togetherness and intimacy, the queer tradition of craft, communal empathy and action, and sense of place, the exhibition highlights how art and memory-making through craft can serve as a powerful form of creative individual and collective resilience during times of loss and social marginalization.

Presented by USF’s MA in Museum Studies Curatorial Practicum class led by Professor Kate Lusheck.

Learn more about the AIDS Memorial Quilt

National AIDS Memorial Quilt Blocks

On loan from the National AIDS Memorial

Anonymous, Vincent Abeyta, C.D. Arnold, Brian Chevez, Aaron John Miller, Mark Senjamin, Larkin Wayo
Block #0232, 1987
The AIDS Memorial Quilt
Textiles with mixed media

June Balestena, Adina Batnitzky, Maybeth Garcia, Bryant Hoven,
Cathy Leota, Lucy Robles, Thomas Simmonds, Nancy Sosa, Naomi Zuk
Block #3708, 1995
The AIDS Memorial Quilt
Textiles with mixed media

Kitty Catalyst O.C.P.
Block #4664, 1996
The AIDS Memorial Quilt
Textiles with mixed media

Sandra L. Burnette, John Deshane, Ned Gorman, Joy Running,
Paquita Rupp, Jackie Sanders, Raymond Tessier, Richard Theilig
Block #4750, 1996–1997
The AIDS Memorial Quilt
Textiles with mixed media

Roxanne Armijo, Harriett Burns, Margo Colasanti, Tiffany Dyckman,
Ike Gonzales, Dolores A. Hengelsberg, Gert McMullin, Letty Medina
Block #5369, 1999
The AIDS Memorial Quilt
Textiles with mixed media

Archival objects from the collection of the GLBT Historical Society

Brett Averill, “Castro Held Hostage,” and Alan White, “Bush Snubs AIDS Quilt”
Bay Area Reporter, October 12, 1989
Newsprint

Timothy Rodrigues, “No Obits”
Bay Area Reporter, August 13, 1998
Newsprint

Staff Reporter, “Deaths”
Bay Area Reporter, October 3, 1985
Newsprint

Staff Reporter, “Multimedia AIDS Quilt Exhibit To Begin Tour of U.S.”
Bay Area Reporter, September 14, 1989
Newsprint

Crawford Wayne Barton
Two Scenes from a Candlelight March in San Francisco, 1980
Color photography

Crawford Wayne Barton
Scenes from the Castro Street Fair, 1978-79
Black and white photography

Crawford Wayne Barton
Castro Street Fair (“Leathermen”), 1990
Color photography

Michael “Red” Bentzinger
“Mr. Red” S.F. Leather Vest with Teddy Bear, c. 1980s
Leather and assorted materials

Steve Black
Untitled (Three Three Dollar Bills, with Divine), c. 1990
Screen print on canvas

Zane Blaney
Gay Games Opening Ceremony and Marathon, San Francisco, 1982
(video, 18:33, sound)

Jean-Baptiste Carhaix
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Pose in a Tree, 1993
A Sister of Perpetual Indulgence as the Sphinx, 1993
A Sister of Perpetual Indulgence in Diving Gear, 1984
A Sister of Perpetual Indulgence with Musical Note Graffito, 1983
Black and white and color photography

Queer Army of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Inc.
USF Condom Day, 1992
Ink on paper

Charles Cyberski
1996 NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt display on the National Mall, 1997
(video, 22:19, sound)

Keith Haring
Ignorance=Fear, Silence=Death, Fight AIDS, ACT UP, 1989
Color lithograph

Henri Leleu
San Francisco Gay Bars, c. 1970s
Color photographs (later collaged in lightbox form by Ramón Silvestre, GLBT Historical Society and Jeff Raby, Creatis Group)

James McNamara
Raising the First Rainbow Flag
United Nations Plaza, San Francisco, 1978
Color photograph (reproduced on canvas)

Harold T. O’Neal
Gay Freedom Day Parade in San Francisco, 1977 and 1978
(video, 21:57, no sound)

Beowulf Thorne (Jack Henry Foster)
Portrait of Tom Shearer, 1993
Black and white photography

Beowulf Thorne (Jack Henry Foster)
Teddy Bear Lit on Fire, 1991
Color photography

Sheila Tully
Scrapbook (ARC/AIDS Vigil; Four Moral Appeals), c. 1989
Black and white photography

Keith Woods
Letter from Keith Woods to Diseased Pariah News, September 8, 1997
Pencil on paper

Letter to Andrew Lewellan (Shanti Project volunteer coordinator)
about Bob Fitzgerald (volunteer), May 1986
Ink on paper

Letter from Eddie Blandini to Andrew Lewallen,
dedicated to Justin Breaux (counselor), June 1986
Ink on paper

Justin Breaux
Farewell Letter, late 1980s
Ink on paper

Unknown Author
“I am HIV Positive;” Letter to Diseased Pariah News, December 2, 1997
Pencil on paper

Anonymous
Leatherman Hook Rug, n.d.
Latch hook rug

Unknown artist
Political Funeral for Joan Baker, October 23, 1993
Color photography

The San Francisco FrontRunners
Collage poster, c. 1980s