AIDS Memorials: Remembering the HIV/AIDS Pandemic and Lives Lost

LGBTQ+ folx and their allies should remember the lives lost to HIV/AIDS year-round and not just one day of the year – World AIDS Day. As a collective, we should find ways to pay homage to not only the lives lost due to the AIDS pandemic, but we should also lift up the HIV/AIDS survivors and caregivers. We know there are dozens of AIDS memorials and monuments around the world, but we just want to highlight a few important ones in the US and the UK.

AIDS Memorial Quilt / AIDS Memorial Grove (San Francisco)

Activist, author, and lecturer Cleve Jones conceived the world-renown NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt in November 1985. Today, it is an epic 54-ton tapestry that includes nearly 50,000 panels dedicated to more than 110,000 people. It is a premiere symbol of the AIDS pandemic, a living memorial to a generation lost to AIDS, and an important HIV prevention education tool. Panels were initially sent to San Francisco from the cities affected by the AIDS pandemic, such as Atlanta, New York City, and LA, and today it is still considered the largest community arts project in history. 

Each year, the National AIDS Memorial works with hundreds of partners across the United States to arrange more than 1,000 displays in schools, universities, places of worship, corporations, and community centers. And panel making still continues. The National AIDS Memorial relies on support from individual donations and other partners to ensure the Quilt is preserved, protected, and able to be shared. You can also check out panels of the Quilt online.

If you’re visiting San Francisco, where the National AIDS Memorial is based, you may not be able to check out the Quilt panels, but you can visit the National AIDS Memorial Grove, located in San Fran’s Golden Gate Park. The sacred, 10-acre living memorial is a place where visitors touched directly or indirectly by AIDS can gather to heal, hope, and remember. The Grove honors all who have confronted the tragic pandemic, including those who have died, and those who have shared their struggles, kept the vigils going, and supported each other during the final hours.  

AIDS Memorial Park (New York City)

In 2016, the AIDS Memorial Park was officially opened with the most visible part of the park, an abstract 18-foot metal canopy, made from three connected triangles, designed by architecture firm Studio a + i. Artist Jenny Holzer created the installation on the grown below it, which incorporates the words from Walt Whitman’s poem “Song of Myself” into the design. The memorial is located in St. Vincent’s Triangle across from the former St. Vincent’s Hospital on Seventh Avenue, which opened the second dedicated AIDS ward in 1984. It was considered “ground zero” for patients who suffered from the disease in its earliest years. 

Key West AIDS Memorial 

Located on White Street and Atlantic Boulevard at the entrance to the Edward B. Knight Pier, the Key West AIDS Memorial – the first municipal AIDS Memorial in the world – is a Zimbabwe granite monument with the engraved names of 1240 people in the Florida Keys who died from complications due to AIDS. Benches at the site of the Memorial allow visitors some time to sit and reflect while reading poems by Kahlil Gibran, Rachel Hadas, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson engraved in stone. Although Key West usually has a lively vibe, this area may have a beautiful tropical backdrop, but the Memorial’s serene setting is the ideal spot to express grief, experience hope, and celebrate the strength of love. 

Provincetown AIDS Memorial

In the Northeast, specifically Provincetown, Massachusetts, a memorial was officially unveiled in June 2018 on the east lawn of its Town Hall at the Ryder Street entrance. The 16.5-ton, gray quartzite stone – strong enough to withstand the New England winters and salt air – with the simple inscription, “Remembering” on both sides. Artist and part-time resident Lauren Ewing created the sculpture meant to honor those who died from AIDS in Provincetown, their survivors, the town’s unique, early response to the AIDS crisis, and the challenges that remain. The AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod was one of the first organizations in the U.S. to care for, support, and house people living with HIV and AIDS. 

AIDS Memorials (United Kingdom)

It may not be fully realized yet, but the first AIDS Memorial is set to be built close to the former Middlesex University Hospital where the first patients with the virus were treated more than 40 years ago. In 1987, Princess Diana shook an AIDS patient’s hand without a glove, challenging the notion that HIV/AIDS was passed by touch. No design has been announced yet for the sculpture yet, but it will be located on Tottenham Court Road. Check out the AIDS Memory UK’s website for the most recent details and you can donate money via a GoFundMe page to help build the new sculpture, too!

The Tiles on the Pier in Bournemouth, AIDS Memorial Sculpture in Brighton’ New Steine Gardens, an AIDS Memorial Park in Edinburgh, Beacon of Hope in Manchester’s Sackville Gardens, the Birchgrove Group’s Woodland Project in Swindon, and AIDS Memorial Garden in South Park on Headington Hill are just existing tributes to the lives lost due to HIV/AIDS in the UK. 

If you’re a traveler with HIV, you should take a look at tips from the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association (IGLTA) to help you stay safe when traveling.