Each of the panels on these two Quilt sections were made during a series of quilting workshops held in Montgomery as part of the AIDS Memorial Quilt’s Call My Name program.
The new panel-making program – a centerpiece of the Change the Pattern initiative – brings communities together to ensure the Quilt is representative of Black, Brown and marginalized populations who have been, and continue to be, disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS.
The panels celebrate the lives of several poets, authors, activists and entertainers. including, Marlon Riggs, Michael Morocco, Kenneth R. Robinson, Thembi Ngubane, Jim Hyde, Chris Noel Reed, Lemar Porterfield, Leon Brown and Jermaine Stewart. Stewart, a R&B artist was best known for his 1986 hit single “We Don’t Have to Take our Clothes Off” and one of the first gay artists to break out of the clubs and crossover into mainstream.
“Through panel-making workshops, we are bringing the community together and the Quilt is bringing awareness to a new generation of people.”