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For the first time since it was initially displayed in Hyde Park in 1994, the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt was unfolded in its entirety in July 2021. It features hundreds of hand-stitched, glue-gunned and collaged memorial panels. Each is the size of a grave plot, powerfully naming a generation of loved ones lost during the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 80s and 90s. The Quilt, with all its colours, materials and immense care and detail, is a heart-breaking monument of love for those departed, as well as a protest against the institutional failures of the period and the stigma surrounding HIV that still remains.

Colliding past and present, ‘Quilts of Love’ features interviews with Barton Friedland, Project Coordinator of the 1994 display, and the staff of The Food Chain, a frontline HIV charity that recently spearheaded the 2021 exhibition. The work pays homage to this stunning piece of visual and community art, but also the tireless work of the people who have made sure the stories behind the Quilts are preserved and the names it commemorates are never forgotten.

About Tom

Tom Foskett-Barnes is a composer and sound designer working across film, theatre and sound art. Tom scored Oscar-nominated short documentary Black Sheep and Bafta-nominated short film toni_with_an_i. For theatre Tom has worked at Old Vic, the Arcola, Soho Theatre and The Globe. In 2016 Tom was Sound and Music Composer in Residence with ROLI as part of the Embedded_Innovate Scheme and in 2017 Tom was selected as part of the Old Vic 12.
‘Quilts of Love’ is the second instalment in a trilogy of works about UK queer history. The first was ‘Living With The Light On’, an audio documentary about the UK's leading LGBT+ helpline Switchboard. Tom trained at the Royal College of Music as a Soirée d'Or Scholar generously supported by a Clifton Parker Award and was also the recipient of a BAFTA UK Scholarship.

New Creatives is supported by Arts Council England and ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Arts.

Tom Foskett-Barnes - Composer, Sound Designer and Producer 
Anna Brewster, Siobhán Lanigan, Clifford McManus, Clare Quinn (The Food Chain) and Barton Friedland (Quilts of Love Display) - Interviewees 
Rory Bowens (NTS) - Executive Producer