Memorial quilt serves to recall disease’s victims

  NAM PHO Eight panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt were
displayed at Tuesday’s Roll-AIDS event in the Ackerman Grand
Ballroom.

By Terri Aquino
Daily Bruin Contributor

Among the bustle of skaters at Tuesday’s Roll-AIDS
fund-raiser, the AIDS Memorial Quilt stood as a silent but powerful
reminder of the devastation brought on by the disease.

The 54-ton quilt ““ the largest community art project of
all time ““ could not be shown in its entirety, so a small
portion displayed the names of UCLA alumni and individuals from
Southern California on eight different 3-by-6-foot panels.

“Within the last 10 years, people have forgotten about the
impact of AIDS,” said Puja Pathuri, director of AIDS
Awareness at the Student Welfare Commission and a fourth-year
microbiology and molecular genetics student. “The quilt
brings out the emotional side of the deaths due to AIDS.”

The AIDS Awareness committee decided to display the quilt to
make the impact of the disease apparent, Pathuri said.

According to the Web site for the NAMES Project Foundation,
which handles the AIDS Memorial Quilt, gay activist Cleve Jones
first conceived the idea for the quilt in 1985 as a tribute to
people who lost their lives to AIDS in San Francisco.

The names of more than 84,000 people from 35 different countries
appear on the quilt, according to the foundation.

Many people contribute to the AIDS quilt to connect themselves
with families of other victims, said Jada Harris, the manager of
display quilt operations in Atlanta.

“The most powerful aspect of the quilt is its ability to
preserve memories in the face of a devastating pandemic,”she
said.

After submitting a panel, contributors are given a block
identification number which allows them to read information on the
quilt, view their panel online or sponsor or submit a new
panel.

The countless stories and lives stitched together are sewn by a
staff member and volunteers in the Atlanta headquarters, Harris
said.

The quilt, nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 and the
subject of the 1989 Academy Award-winning documentary film
“Common Threads: Stories From the Quilt,” has not been
shown in its entirety since 1996.

There are no plans to show the entire quilt again at anytime
soon because of space constraints, Harris said.

Many students said Tuesday’s event raised awareness for
the importance of involvement and education on HIV and AIDS.

“This event gave students easy access to participating in
the cause to help find a cure,” said first-year undeclared
student JoAnn Yatar. “It served as a reminder that AIDS
affects so many worldwide.”

Student Welfare Commissioner Peter Trinh, a fourth-year business
economics student, said the quilt brings hope around the world.

“AIDS has affected a lot of people,” Trinh said.
“The quilt serves to bring awareness, tolerance and education
to those within the community.”