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# Birmingham’s Cover-Up HIV Memorial Quilt to go on display
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/birminghams-cover-up-hiv-memorial-quilt-to-go-on-display/
- Published: 2022-12-13T17:00:25.000Z
- Updated: 2022-12-13T14:51:02.000Z
- Description: The Cover-Up Quilt Project is an Arts Council-funded community art project, led by Garry Jones, which features 40 quilt panels each of which signify a historic moment or memory – locally, nationally or internationally – in the 40 years since the first HIV diagnosis in the UK
- Author: Catherine Muxworthy
- Tags: Birmingham, Garry Jones, HIV, LGBT, LGBTQ, World Aids Day

The **Cover-Up Quilt Project** is an **Arts Council**\-funded community art project, led by **Garry Jones**, which features 40 quilt panels each of which signify a historic moment or memory – locally, nationally or internationally – in the 40 years since the first HIV diagnosis in the UK. These 40 quilt panels will now go on display in Birmingham city centre from **Tuesday, January 10**.

The quilt panels – which were used in the **World AIDS Day** procession ahead of the grand reveal of the city’s new AIDS and HIV memorial **The Ribbons** – will be displayed in a **Centenary Square** tour exhibition which will see them exhibited in the **Library of Birmingham**, the **Rep Theatre**, the **Exchange Building**, and **Symphony Hall**; all of which are located on Centenary Square. Visitors will be able to view them in these venues until **Tuesday, January 31**.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/memorial-quilt-its-a-sin-e1670931825535.jpg)

Each of the 40 quilt panels celebrates, remembers or educates people about a significant moment in the history of HIV and AIDS from *It’s A Sin* – the celebrated **Russell T Davies** show which inspired Garry Jones to campaign for a memorial in Birmingham – to the **undetectable = untransmittable** campaign, which serves as a reminder that HIV positive people on effective antiretrovirals with undetectable levels of the virus in their body cannot pass the virus on to others.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/image-14-e1670931592253.jpg)

One of the quilts is a homage to **Dorothy Towers**, a block of flats in the city – officially called the **Sentinels** – which gained a reputation for being a place where many LGBTQ+ people lived, and during the height of the HIV epidemic in the mid-’90s, many living in these blocks had the virus; some sadly passed away.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/image-15-e1670931642432.jpg)

Another of the panels is in memory of **Tom Matthews**, an AIDS campaigner who lived with HIV. He and his partner, **Ian Scott**, were together for nearly 35 years but initially believed that they would only have two years together. Tom sadly passed away aged 74 from a medical condition unrelated to his HIV+ status, decades after his diagnosis.

Ian told **BBC Midlands Today:** “He was the most wonderful person. He was just amazing, there was something really inspiring about him.”

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/image-16-e1670931751784.jpg)

A group called **Sew Marvellous** were involved making the quilts, ensuring each panel was ready for the reveal of the city’s memorial. **Sue Sharpe**, from the sewing group said it was “quite moving to hear some of the stories. You don’t hear about the 40-odd million or so who’ve died of HIV and if you do, it tends to get categorised with the gay community and it’s not just the gay community, it affects a lot of people.”

After it’s display in the Centenary Square venues, the Cover-Up Quilt will be displayed at **Birmingham City University**’s **Millennium Point** from **February 1** until **February 28**.