Survivors’ Quilt Project Weaves Together Stories of Strength

By Office of Communications & Marketing | Aug 27, 2026

The STAR Program, in partnership with the STAR/THEO and HEAT programs, is bringing together art, storytelling, and community through the Survivors’ Quilt Project.

The project continues a long tradition of using quilts to make the human impact of HIV and AIDS visible. The AIDS Memorial Quilt was conceived in 1985, when many people who died of AIDS were denied the public remembrance they deserved. Its first national display in 1987 featured 1,920 handmade panels, each honoring a life lost. Today, the Quilt includes nearly 50,000 panels dedicated to more than 110,000 people.

That tradition also has a meaningful history at Downstate. The original STAR Survivors Quilt was created in 2015 by patients and community members and later restored for public display. Each square shared a personal story and reflected the resilience and leadership that have shaped STAR’s work for more than three decades. We featured the Quilt during Downstate’s 2025 World AIDS Day observance, where it stood alongside remembrance, education, advocacy, and a renewed call to action.

The new Survivors’ Quilt Project builds on that history while expanding the opportunity for people living with HIV to tell their stories. During a series of facilitated sessions, participants will create individual 12-by-12-inch panels reflecting their journeys, identities, resilience, and strength. Approximately 20 panels will be joined to form one collective work for presentation around World AIDS Day.

Using fabric, color, symbols, words, and other artistic elements, participants will be able to tell their stories in their own way. The project will also include a short documentary about the Quilt’s creation, centered on participants’ voices and produced with careful attention to consent and privacy.

The project team welcomes support of many varieties, including clean, usable quilting and art supplies. Support will help provide materials, creative facilitation, refreshments, transportation, accessibility assistance, and resources for the World AIDS Day display.

Please contact MichelleAnn Joseph at Michelleann.joseph@downstate.edu, 718-270-3746, or 917-209-9710 for more information on how you can help.

The completed panels will give people living with HIV a place to tell their stories in their own words and through their own art, and give us all an opportunity to celebrate their lives.

Tags: STAR Program