HIV Community Celebration Quilts

LEEDS BHA SKYLINE | 2021

Artist Andi Walker · Quilts Courtesy of the Thackray Museum of Medicine · Participants Leeds BHA Skyline service users, activists, healthcare workers & community members · Documentary Photography Jac Callaghan

In 2021, forty years after the first recognised cases of HIV, two community quilts were created in Leeds as acts of remembrance, resilience, and celebration. They honour not only those whose lives were shaped by HIV, but the extraordinary progress in treatment and life expectancy that has transformed what it means to live with HIV today.

  • At this time, I was working as a support worker within a HIV support service in Leeds. The anniversary became an invitation; a moment for people to pause, to reflect on their journeys, their losses, their survival, and their continuing lives. Through a series of creative workshops, voices came together: service users, activists, healthcare workers, and community members who had carried the weight of this history in different ways.

    As an artist, I have always been deeply moved by the original AIDS Memorial Quilts: a vast landscape created to honour those lost, to restore names where there had been silence, and to humanise lives reduced to statistics. It allowed us to reflect on our journeys, past and future ones.

  • These workshops became spaces of conversation and reflection. Participants were invited to stitch their stories whether personal or collective into fabric panels that spoke of survival, treatment, love, pride, and hope. What emerged was not only remembrance, but celebration: of life extended, of strength reclaimed, of futures once unimaginable.

    The response was overwhelming. The workshops filled with people sewing, talking, remembering, and sharing stories as their hands worked cloth into meaning. From this collective energy, enough panels were created to form two full quilts, each one a testament to connection, care, and lived history.

    Recognising the significance of what had emerged, I approached the Thackray Medical Museum about displaying the quilts. They generously agreed, and the works were installed in the museum’s public health gallery, where they were met with deep engagement from visitors. What began as a six-month loan soon extended to a further eighteen months, and the quilts have now found a lasting home as part of the museum’s permanent collection.

Stitching Survival, Memory and Hope

Quilt 1

RAINBO~1.JPG
STICKM~1.JPG
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WEDDIN~1.JPG
Quilt 1.jpg
BONEHE~1.JPG
IT'STI~1.JPG
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ILOVEY~1.JPG
COLOUR~1.JPG

Quilt 2

RAINBO~2.JPG
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Quilt 1.jpg
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HIVQUI~1.JPG
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FULLQU~1.JPG

A condensed timeline of HIV / AIDS history in UK and Leeds:/

EXPLORE

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  • Key Early Events

    1969: Robert Rayford dies in the US from what is later understood to be AIDS-related illness.

    1981: First recognised AIDS cases reported in the US.

    1982: Term “AIDS” officially adopted.

    1984: HIV transmission via contaminated blood products identified in the UK, affecting haemophiliacs.

    1985: UK extends public health disease-control powers to include AIDS.

    1989: ACT UP London founded, the first European chapter, initiating high-profile activism. Other chapters form in Leeds, Manchester, and Edinburgh.

  • Late 1980s – Early 1990s: Crisis and Activism

    HIV/AIDS becomes a major UK public health issue, heavily impacting gay/bisexual men and those infected via blood products.

    1993: UK Coalition of People Living with HIV and AIDS (UKC) founded, strengthening advocacy.

  • Mid-1990s: Turning Point

    ACT UP influences policy, clinical trials, drug access, media representation, and care standards.

    1995: Peak in AIDS deaths in the UK.

    1996: Introduction of HAART transforms HIV into a manageable chronic condition; deaths decline sharply.

  • 2000s: Expanding Care

    Increased survival and testing lead to rising numbers of people living with HIV.

    2005: Heterosexually acquired HIV diagnoses surpass those among gay/bisexual men.

    2010: Around 91,500 people living with HIV in the UK; approximately 25% undiagnosed.

  • 2010s: Prevention and Progress

    Widespread testing and treatment as prevention reduce new transmissions.

    ART becomes standard for all diagnosed individuals.

    AIDS diagnoses fall by around 50% between 2010–2015.

  • Leeds: Local Context

    Leeds becomes a key centre for HIV care and activism in Yorkshire.

    2017: HIV prevalence ~2.68 per 1,000 (similar to UK average).

    By 2016, HIV-related deaths in Leeds drop to near zero.

    Prevalence figures partly reflect people moving to Leeds already diagnosed or diagnosed through Leeds-based care.

  • 2020s: Modern Response

    2023: Leeds joins Fast-Track City Initiative, aiming to end HIV, TB, and viral hepatitis by 2030.

    99% of diagnosed people on treatment; 98% virally suppressed.

    Major hospitals adopt opt-out HIV testing in emergency departments.

  • Present & Future

    People with HIV now have near-normal life expectancy with treatment.

    Leeds continues working toward zero new infections, zero deaths and zero stigma.

    Ongoing community engagement, education, and projects like Community Quilts remain essential to awareness and dialogue.

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