The AIDS Memorial Quilt has returned to San Francisco for its largest showing in over a decade. A part of the Names Project Foundation, each quilt, made by loved ones of the deceased, is twelve-by-twelve feet and constructed of three-by-six feet panels -- sized to reflect the length and width of a grave.
Kelly Rivera Hart, a volunteer with the project, said it aims to put a name and a history to the victims of AIDS, driving home the reality of the epidemic.
"There's a thinking to this day that AIDS is only a gay disease, or it's only for people in Africa or Russia or India, and that's not true," Rivera said. "It's a virus that is transmitted through blood or through body liquids, no matter who you are."
San Francisco LGBT groups that contributed to the quilt include the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and the San Francisco Gay Softball League.
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence designed a giant sun, with the names of past sisters written on the rays, some intentionally left blank in recognition of the virus' continued effect on the community.