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On World AIDS Day, a memorial quilt at Connecticut College comforts those close to HIV

 HIV Memorial Quilt panels
Brian Scott-Smith
/
WSHU
HIV Memorial Quilt panels

Dec. 1 is World AIDS Day. Those lost to the disease are remembered at a special exhibition at Connecticut College in New London.

 HIV Memorial quilt panels
Brian Scott-Smith
/
WSHU
HIV Memorial quilt panels

Over 70 panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt are on display here, many of them with names from local people in the state who live with HIV, or have died from AIDS, if the virus is left untreated.

Virginia Anderson, an associate professor of theater at Connecticut College and organizer of the quilt exhibition, said students today are learning about the history behind the quilt and how people with AIDS were treated.

 Associate Professor Virginia Anderson looks at a panel on the HIV Memorial Quilt of someone from New London
Brian Scott-Smith
/
WSHU
Associate Professor Virginia Anderson looks at a panel on the HIV Memorial Quilt of someone from New London

“They are angry that there’s this entire history, they’re one generation removed from, that involved people speaking so coldly, turning a shoulder when people needed help, that would just, had no humanity at all,” Anderson said.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt is composed of more than 48,000 panels dedicated to more than 94,000 individuals. It’s the largest ongoing piece of community folk art in the world.

The quilt panels are on display at the Tansill Theater at Hillyer Hall at Connecticut College and is open to the public, as well as students, to view from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. until the end of Sunday, Dec. 4.

“It’s here to remember, to acknowledge today,” Anderson said, “to try to stop the pain and the ongoing silence people are so convinced that AIDS is a thing of the past, or maybe they’re not even aware of that past — as I find with my students.”

Copyright 2022 WSHU. To see more, visit WSHU.

Brian Scott-Smith

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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