{"id":9481,"date":"2018-11-30T17:38:33","date_gmt":"2018-11-30T22:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=9481"},"modified":"2018-12-02T11:11:17","modified_gmt":"2018-12-02T16:11:17","slug":"aids-vigil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2018\/11\/30\/aids-vigil\/","title":{"rendered":"Landmark AIDS Memorial Quilt Joins Annual Boston AIDS Vigil At BCA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Twenty sections from the landmark AIDS Memorial Quilt frame this year\u2019s 27th annual \u201cMedicine Wheel\u201d AIDS vigil. The event begins at 11:30 p.m. tonight and continues for 24 hours at the Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama, 539 Tremont St.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe AIDS Quilt is the single largest collective public artwork in the history of the U.S. \u2018Medicine Wheel\u2019 is in the spirit of that,\u201d says Michael Dowling, who creates the Boston display with hundreds of volunteers.<\/p>\n

This is the third time the Boston vigil has displayed sections of the AIDS quilt, which was begun in spring 1987 by Bay Area activist Cleve Jones\u2014a friend and prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of Harvey Milk, the pioneering gay San Francisco politician\u2014and friends. People from around the world contributed 3 feet by 6 feet panels (the size of a human grave) to remember loved ones lost to AIDS. As the disease took its dreadful toll, the quilt has grown to thousands and thousands of pieces.<\/p>\n

\"AIDS<\/a>
AIDS Quilt at “Medicine Wheel” at Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama, Nov. 30, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This year the Boston vigil features 20 sections, the most they\u2019ve ever had, each remembering several people. The textiles here mainly memorialize local folks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are mostly from the early \u201890s, the peak of the dying time,\u201d Dowling says. \u201cThere are a lot of family coming in to see the quilt that haven\u2019t seen it in years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dowling first presented \u201cMedicine Wheel\u201d as part of A Day With(Out) Art, which as launched in 1989 as the visual arts community\u2019s annual response to the AIDS crisis. Most activities associated with A Day Without Art no longer take place, but Dowling\u2019s effort continues, the largest AIDS memorial event in the region each year.<\/p>\n

The Boston event gets its name from 36 pedestals and portable shrines arranged in a circle. Visitors are invited to leave momentos. Each year\u2019s display is based upon an element: water, earth, air. This year it\u2019s fire\u2014with a swirl of blackened tree branches at the heart of the installation.<\/p>\n

\n

Help Wonderland keep producing our great coverage of local arts, cultures and activisms (and our great festivals) by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\""Medicine<\/a>
“Medicine Wheel” at Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama, Nov. 30, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"AIDS<\/a>
AIDS Quilt at “Medicine Wheel” at Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama, Nov. 30, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\""Medicine<\/a>
“Medicine Wheel” at Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama, Nov. 30, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\""Medicine<\/a>
“Medicine Wheel” at Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama, Nov. 30, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\""Medicine<\/a>
“Medicine Wheel” at Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama, Nov. 30, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\""Medicine<\/a>
“Medicine Wheel” at Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama, Nov. 30, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"AIDS<\/a>
AIDS Quilt at “Medicine Wheel” at Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama, Nov. 30, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"AIDS<\/a>
AIDS Quilt at “Medicine Wheel” at Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama, Nov. 30, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\""Medicine<\/a>
“Medicine Wheel” at Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama, Nov. 30, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Twenty sections from the landmark AIDS Memorial Quilt frame this year\u2019s 27th annual \u201cMedicine Wheel\u201d AIDS vigil. The event begins at 11:30 p.m. tonight and continues for 24 hours at the Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama, 539 Tremont St. \u201cThe AIDS Quilt is the single largest collective public artwork in the history of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9466,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106,100,119],"tags":[487,37,223],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9481"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9481"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9490,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9481\/revisions\/9490"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}