The New Zealand AIDS Memorial Quilt, 1991 – 2001 "Te Kuira Mauwhakamaharatanga mo ratou kua mate it te mate kino" 5 October 2001 marked ten years since the first public unfolding ceremony of the New Zealand AIDS Memorial Quilt. This took place at the Auckland Art Gallery in the presence of then Governor General, Dame Cath Tizard. To recall ten years of unfoldings and maintain public awareness of the continued reality of HIV and AIDS in Aotearoa, New Zealand, the total New Zealand AIDS Memorial Quilt will be displayed on Friday October 5 and Saturday October 6 in Auckland's Aotea Square. A simple unfolding ceremony will take place in Aotea Square on Friday 5 October at 10.00am. (In the event of unsuitable weather the ceremony and display will be transferred indoors to the Aotea Chapel, Queen and Airedale Sts.) Our organisation, the New Zealand Quilt Project, is launching a new logo(above) and brochure as part of its ten year commemoration. Some background: The first New Zealand Quilt was created and presented in Wellington in 1988. At the time of the first official unfolding ceremony in 1991 there were 32 Quilt panels sewn into four blocks. By the turn of the century (2000) there were sixteen blocks and a number of individual panels remembering some almost 140 persons, mainly New Zealanders, who have died from AIDS related conditions during this time. During the last ten years, and earlier, the AIDS Memorial Quilts have been taken, unfolded and displayed literally from Cape Reinga to Bluff. They have been viewed by thousands of ordinary Kiwis and for most this is possibly the only link they have had with the AIDS pandemic. In addition to visiting hundreds of marae, schools, churches, shopping malls, country towns and major cities some panels of the Quilt have travelled to international unfoldings in Washington, Amsterdam and Sydney. An invitation has been extended to send Quilt panels to both the International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain and the International Gay Games, Sydney 2002. GayNZ.com - 14th February 2002