UK AIDS Memorial Quilt at Charleston, part of Queer Bloomsbury 2025

As part of our Queer Bloomsbury festival programme Charleston is honoured to host a moving display of 7 Quilts from the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt collection – one chapter of the largest community art project in the world. 7 powerful quilt blocks will be exhibited in the Hay Barn from 14–21 September each one commemorating individuals lost to the AIDS crisis and honouring the resilience of those affected.

First created in the United States by LGBTQ and human rights activist Cleve Jones at the height of the AIDS pandemic in the late 1980s and early 1990s the AIDS Memorial Quilt began as an act of protest remembrance and love. Activist groups around the world encouraged people to make fabric panels in memory of loved ones later sewing them together into vast quilts for public display. The UK Chapter was formed by Scottish activist Alastair Hume in the late 1980s based in Edinburgh. Today the Quilt is looked after by a partnership of 7 HIV support charities.

Recently presented at Tate Modern in full the Quilt continues to bear witness to the impact of HIV and AIDS on individuals and communities both then and now and in light of the current HIV funding crisis which threatens millions more lives.
Join us on Sunday 14 September for an afternoon of special events including:
· Nova Scotia House: Charlie Porter in conversation with Omari Douglas
· Material Witness: Jonathan Blake and Siobhan Lanigan in conversation with Paul Flynn
· Readings of the Names

This display is curated in partnership with the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt Partnership.

Quilts included: 7 quilts that contain panels featured in Charlie Porter’s novel ‘Nova Scotia House’.

You may also like the following events from Charleston:

• Next month, 13th September, 10:00 am, Queer Bloomsbury 2025 in Brighton
• Next month, 18th September, 02:00 pm, Charleston in 10 Objects in Lewes
• This October, 21st October, 10:00 am, Create a Garden Journal with Shilpa Agashe in Laughton

Also check out other Exhibitions in Brighton, Nonprofit events in Brighton.