In the quiet sanctuary of St. Thomas’ Parish in Dupont Circle, there is a sacred monument on fabric and thread. During World Pride, in collaboration with St. Thomas and the National AIDS Memorial, the gay male chorus in Washington, DC, has announced a deep personal exhibition of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, which includes a panel of chorus members who lost their vogue in the 1980s and 90s.
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The exhibit features full quilt blocks and companion photo displays, honoring dozens of chorus members who have died from complications of AIDS. Some panels are decades old and are sewn in by grieving their loved ones at the height of the crisis. In particular, those originally created by chorus members have a special meaning.
“For us, this is more than just history. These are our people,” said Michael Hughes, Chorus’ outreach manager. “We estimate that about 100 members of the chorus have died of AIDS. 100 voices are silent.”
The idea for the exhibition was sparked earlier this year after members of the chorus visited a reading of a local high school class American Angel. “The students didn’t have a context for what life was like in the ’80s and ’90s,” Hughes explained. “We talked to them about fear, watching their friends die, quilting.”
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After that visit, Chorus member Larry Cohen emailed Hughes with his ideas and questions. What happens if I search for a quilt panel made to pay tribute to a fallen member?
“So we spent two and a half months digging into the National AIDS Memorial Database, the names of project records, and the digitized archives of the Library of Congress,” Hughes said. “We were able to see the 33 chorus members who created the panel. There were also some that I personally remembered.”
The setting of St. Thomas’ Parish is part of the story in itself. “During the AIDS crisis, two or three churches in the city even held funerals for those who died of AIDS,” Hughes said. “St. Thomas” was one of them. ”
On Friday night, the exhibit portrayed House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, a special guest who was a long-standingly fierce advocate in the fight against AIDS. Pelosi spent time with the chorus members and watched the panel, but the group performed two songs in honor of her visit under the direction of artistic director Cia Cano.
Addressing the members of the chorus, Pelosi recalled her own early skepticism about the power of the quilt. “At first I thought quilting was a bad idea,” she said. “But I was wrong. Beauty was in art, and art became the most unified thing.”
“People who may not think they have something in common suddenly find themselves doing it through these panels,” continued Pelosi. “You see someone’s story laid out before you and the love they had in their lives. Sadness, anger, joy, all that. And it moves you.”
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Pelosi also reflected the political and cultural battles of the time and how important it was. LGBTQ+ Community activities were about making a difference.
“When I gave my first speech to Congress about HIV/AIDS, people said, ‘Why do you talk about it? Why do you lead it?” Pelosi said. “That’s what I said because I came here. I came to fight.”
“Yes, we worked on changing policies, passing the law and allocating resources,” she said. “But the real miracle was the external mobilization of the LGBTQ+ community that refused to be silenced. That made a difference. That changed the world.”
As Pridemance unfolds, the quilt is a memorial, a call to action, and a loving and prophetic testimony to Quilt’s ability to humanize loss and turn mourning into music.
The AIDS Memorial Kilt exhibition will be open to the public until Sunday in St. Thomas’ Parish. Daily visit times and detailed information availablegmcw.org.
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
