Irish Names Quilt Exhibition takes place at the Limerick Gallery of Art from Monday, July 4th until Sunday, July 17th as part of Limerick Pride 2022
The Irish Names Quilt Exhibition was created to honour and remember those who died in Ireland to AIDS and HIV-related illnesses
By I Love Limerick correspondent Ava O’Donoghue
The Irish Names Quilt Exhibition takes place at the Limerick Gallery of Art from Monday, July 4th until Sunday, July 17th as part of Limerick Pride 2022.
The Irish Names Quilt Exhibition gathers inspiration from the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt founded in San Francisco by gay rights activist Cleve Jones in June 1987.
By 1989, 20 countries had their own renditions of the quilt and by 1990 Ireland followed suit through a leading member of the Quilt Exhibition, Mary Shannon.
Mary Shannon felt inspired to create the Irish Names quilt’s first patch after a close friend of hers Joe Carthy died from AIDS in January 1990 at the age of just 29.
From there a workshop gathered on Tuesdays, often working late into the night with friends and families to build a community to create a space to share personal stories and grieve over loved ones who had been lost due to HIV/AIDS.
For the exhibition, a single quilt is divided into eight panels with each panel dedicated either to an individual or a group of persons and decorated with stitched-in personal fragments and memorabilia.
The Irish Names Quilt Exhibition first began breaking the stigmatisation and secrecy of these deaths by touring around the country on January 13th, 1991, hitting Dublin, Cork, Galway, Derry, Limerick, and Belfast.
As part of Limerick Pride the quilt will now reside in Limerick City Gallery of Art and GOSHH invites all members of the LGBTI+ community, their families, friends, allies and people with an interest in culture and history to visit the exhibition to experience a vital piece of history.
Limerick Pride LGBTQ Festival 2022 will be taking place starting from Monday, July 4 until Sunday, July 10 with the Parade on Saturday, July 9and will feature a multitude of events from workshops, support meetings and discussions to evenings of music and club nights, to cater to the Pride needs of everyone. The theme this year is ‘Pride is Culture’ to shed light on the joy and resilience of artists and cultural creators within the LGBTQIA+ community.
For more stories on Limerick Pride 2022 go HERE
For more information on Limerick Pride 2022 go HERE