One of the special exhibits I was really looking forward to was the AIDS Memorial Quilt: The Names Project. I had never seen any part of this in person before QuiltCon. This is a tiny fraction of the whole project. This is just 12 sections and the whole thing weighs 54 tons. One thing I never realized is how big the individual quilts are. The standard size is 3'x6', the size of a coffin.
This was incredibly moving and so full of love. Mary Fons curated this exhibit. With something so huge I have no idea how she was able to winnow it down to just 12 panels. Mary also did a lecture about this exhibit called The AIDS Quilt: Comfort, Compassion, & Change. If you ever have a chance to see her do a lecture it's well worth attending. She's so dynamic and even her serious lectures such as this one include humor and are very engaging. She talked about this history of the AIDS epidemic, the history of the quilt project and mourning quilts in general.
