Join us and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and contribute to the sewing of a quilt panel which will be part of this year’s Memorial Quilt, dedicated to those who have died from AIDS. Since the onset of the pandemic in 1981, AIDS has killed over 42 million people worldwide. The International AIDS Candlelight Memorial, established in 1983 and celebrated on the third Sunday of May, cherishes the memory of those who have passed.

For the past 20 years, year by year, fewer and fewer people have died from AIDS. Effective pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP and PrEP) is available. Advanced work on an mRNA vaccine is underway. Most importantly, with effective treatment, HIV infection can be asymptomatic and does not affect the comfort and length of life. Additionally, an HIV positive person living with a stably undetectable viral load (a very low amount of virus in the blood) does not transmit the infection through sexual contact. Therefore, treatment is a key preventive measure. However, global efforts to end the pandemic are now under threat due to the actions of the Donald Trump administration. Among other things, the PEPFAR programme, launched in 2003 by George W. Bush, has been halted. Under this programme, more than 20 million people in 55 countries around the world received antiretroviral drugs. Funding was frozen for initiatives to combat tuberculosis, hunger and infant mortality. Work on malaria and HIV vaccines was discontinued, too.

This context makes the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial especially significant. In 2021, Zjednoczenie Pozytywni w Tęczy Association revived the tradition of preparing memorial quilts, inspired by the monumental AIDS Memorial Quilt, begun in 1987. A new Memorial Quilt will be shown on Sunday, 18 May 2025, in Castle Square, Warsaw. Once again, Arsenał Municipal Gallery Poznań will be co-participating in the event. Through our collective sewing, we will highlight the fact that as long as the pandemic continues, we all live with HIV.

moderator: Paweł Ziemba / sister Mary Read SPI

registration: jacek.zwierzynski@arsenal.art.pl

A quilt pieced together of fragments of successive editions of Patchwork One, held between 2009 and 2013 by Zjednoczenie Pozytywni w Tęczy Association to mark the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial; the show Creative Sick States: AIDS, HIV, CANCER (2019).

photo: Tomasz Pawłowski