About This Event

The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt will be exhibited in full in Scotland for the first time. At Tramway, the Quilt will be displayed alongside archival material which traces the Scottish roots of the project, as well as the documentary film There Is A Light That Never Goes Out. The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt represents over 600 people lost to HIV and AIDS in the UK. It is part of the world's largest community art project, begun in the USA in 1985 by activist Cleve Jones to commemorate friends, family and loved ones lost to AIDS. In the late 1980s, Scottish activist Ally Van Tillo began coordinating the UK Quilt, as others were doing around the world. Every panel in the Quilt was made by someone who loved the person it remembers. These were people with full lives, passions, friendships and families. At a time when AIDS stigma meant many died unnamed and unmourned in public, the Quilt was an act of defiance. It said these people existed and mattered – and they will not be forgotten. The UK Quilt consists of 335 individual panels, most measuring 3ft x 6ft, symbolic of a typical grave plot. Individual panels were stitched together to form larger blocks measuring 12ft x 12ft - each one showing both the sheer scale of loss, and the individual humanity of every life it holds. Shown in public spaces, the Quilt became an act of remembrance, protest and celebration - a way to force people to look, and to demand action when governments would not. Seven UK HIV support charities formed the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt Partnership in 2014 to conserve and display the quilt. Today it stands as an important reminder of those who were lost and of the fact that HIV and AIDS continue to affect people and communities today. Medical advances have transformed HIV yet the social barriers remain and access to treatment and prevention still varies dramatically, both here in the UK and across the globe. The Quilt has always held space for everyone affected by HIV, whatever their treatment or status. Everyone deserves support to live as well as possible, whether that's medical, emotional or financial. Stigma, inequality and a lack of awareness mean the fight against AIDS is still not over. Public Programme: A public programme will run alongside the Quilt display, including a series of events curated by Glasgow based artist and researcher Steven Grainger. Saturday 12th September: Reading of the Names Mark the arrival of the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt to Glasgow with the traditional Reading of the Names ceremony, and a performance from Glaswegian women's drumming ensemble SheBoom. More info on this event can be found at www.glasgowlife.org.uk Sunday 13th September: Killing Me Softly: Reflections on HIV and AIDS in Scottish Theatre Playwright John Binnie and original cast members of his 1987 play Killing Me Softly explore the ways in which Scottish theatre responded at the height of the AIDS crisis. Between performed extracts of the play, the discussion will reflect candidly on the experience of performing the work in theatres, housing estates, unemployed workers' centres, hospices and "Safe Nookey Nights" in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Tickets are free but must be booked via www.glasgowlife.org.uk Thursday 17th September: Choose Life: Edinburgh's Battle Against AIDS, a film by Stephen Bennett A screening of Stephen Bennett’s landmark documentary Choose Life: Edinburgh's Battle Against AIDS (2019), introduced by Wendy Cooper (Waverley Care). Tickets are free but must be booked via www.glasgowlife.org.uk Saturday 19th September: OurStory Scotland Day Of Events Founded in 2002 and based in Glasgow's Mitchell Library, OurStory Scotland is a community and oral history project recording the stories of Scotland's LGBT communities from the 1920s to now. Join them as they bring a day of events to Tramway. More info on this event can be found at www.glasgowlife.org.uk Sunday 20th September: ACT UP day of events From giant condoms and political funerals to die-ins and blockbuster campaigns for PrEP and affordable HIV prevention, AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) has transformed healthcare through fearless direct action, including the work of ACT UP in Glasgow and Edinburgh. This day of events shines a light on that work. Tickets are free but must be booked via www.glasgowlife.org.uk Saturday 26th September: Threads of Resilience - Stitching Stories for the Future The arrival of the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt in Scotland inspired the Terrence Higgins Trust Living Well team to reflect on the power of creativity, community and storytelling. While the Quilt honours the past, Threads of Resilience looks to the present and the future, celebrating what it means to live, thrive, and age well with HIV today. Tickets are free but must be booked via www.glasgowlife.org.uk Saturday 3rd October: Reading of the Names Mark the end of the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt to Glasgow with the traditional Reading of the Names ceremony, an oral tradition that ensures each person memorialised in the Quilt is remembered as an individual, not a statistic. The format has been used where possible at all displays, with AIDS Quilt UK supporters reading aloud the names of those commemorated on the panels. More info on this event can be found at www.glasgowlife.org.uk The AIDS QUILT UK is presented by Tramway and made possible with Creative Scotland funding. The exhibition features a display of archives supported by Lothian Health Services archive, University of Edinburgh Library. Image courtesy of Waverley Care

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