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Quilt panel, part of Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt, in memory of 'Christopher O'Neal Reagan', cotton / synthetic textile / ink, made in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2002 Rectangular cotton panel, landscape orientation. A centre panel made up o…
Quilt panel, part of Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt, in memory of 'Christopher O'Neal Reagan', cotton / synthetic textile / ink, made in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2002 Rectangular cotton panel, landscape orientation. A centre panel made up of a printed photograph of a man, presumably Christopher Reagan, the photograph is bordered with red, orange, yellow and green on the left and red, orange and yellow on the right hand side. Above the photograph in black letters is the following: Christopher O'Neal Reagan/ 11/9/1956 - 17/1/1997 / In life he promised love forever / In death he kept his will so true. Below the photograph and in the centre is a printed text (see below). There are vertical pink panels at each side of the central panel. To the left and right are printed photos of various places, times and people of Christopher's life, there is also a reproduction of an American Express card in the name of Christopher Reagan. The photographs are joined together with black ribbon. The whole panel is edged by a turquoise silk patterned ribbon of Asian design and a rainbow coloured ribbon binding. The following appears below the central photograph: Chuck left this world and begged his lover Christ to 'stay and love some more.'/ Christ was brave and lived on to love me and and all of you./ In life he met persecution at all levels, in those who were unwilling to accept the truth of the words he spoke so fluently, eloquently and understandable by all. Christ forgave all who ever acted against him 'for they know not what they do'./ Christ explored all the possibilities of emotion and thought that could be experienced in every circumstance. Through such analysis he was always able to make the most informed choice of opinion. This simple approach is one that everybody could adapt and benefit from. We can be informed, considerate, loving human beings just as Christ lived his life. / Never accept that there is only the one truth. Life is constantly changing, and what was the most appropriate truth before, has now needed to change, in order to be real about the new circumstances which evolve. /He promised his love eternal. Since his departure from this realm, his love is still abundant in my life. It grows each day as I gain strength and courage, with the realisation that our spirit, love and essence continues to flourish, support and enlighten those we leave behind. I thank you Christ my love, for showing me such glory./ Love is TRUE / Evangelos / Sun rises on each square inch of earth ... daily. We live in a nightmarish world where BILLIONS of our babies, children, young people, adults and elderly human beings live in despicable standards of life, due to an entire monetary ownership of this planets resources, which DISPROPORTIONATELY control distribution, STARVING these people while the earth's resources favor a few. / Nothing less will do than the utter surrender of the planet to the people. As one human race on one tiny planet ....Culminating in a sexually liberated democracy. / CURE AIDS ! Feed the people. Protect ecology as a goddess, and leave the earth in gracious splendor as she was found to us. / For all generations to come as one. / Imagine all the people living in peace. I hope one day you'll join us and we will live as one. / Love your gay children. They are your sons and daughters.'/ Christ Reagan / A common man with common sense ... and common cause The panel was made by Evangelos who was Christopher's lover in Sydney, New South Wales, in about 2002.
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Related objects
- ‘David’ - Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt panel
- John Wilkinson - Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt panel
- Mark Diment - Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt panel
- Robert Mackenzie Kennedy - Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt panel
- Wayne C Nicol - Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt panel
- William Guyer - Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt panel
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Visit the page ‘David’ - Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt panel Quilt panel, part of Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt, in memory of 'David' ' cotton / plastic / metal, made by Anton Veenstra, New South Wales, Australia, about 2000 Rectangular, black cotton panel, portrait orientation with 'David' 'Vale' (latin word 'farewell') in letters composed of various coloured zippers and buttons. The centre motif is made from various haberdashery braids, and there are other fabric flowers and tassels. A pair of earrings and a plastic rainbow coloured wristband are also attached. This quilt was made by Anton Veenstra in New South Wales, Australia in 2000. Anton Veenstra is a fibre artist. He designs and weaves tapestries. He also does work incorporating buttons. In an email conversation in May 2013 Anton Veenstra said: "I began to work with textile genres after finishing a Diploma of Education in 1975. This began with woven tapestry, and included patchwork, applique and macrame. One of the first events I participated in was held at the Powerhouse in the 1980's, the Billycan project, involving decorating an aluminium billycan with a touristy image of Australia.. I associated with other young gays & lesbians in Camp Ink and later Gay Lib. David was a member of those groups. We lost touch and got in touch years later when David was living with Aids. At the time, I was a telephone operator at the International Telephone Exchange; the first people to die of Aids worked here, as they annually holidayed in the USA, in New York and San Francisco. When the Aids Quilt project gathered momentum I decided to contribute a work; I collected a number of brightly coloured zips from Reverse Garbage, the Enmore recycling centre. I decided to create the lettering with these gestures of colour. I used the word "vale" as a generalised farewell to David but all the other blokes I'd worked with, who later died. In that sense David was my poster boy for the dreaded disease.” This quilt is in memory of David. It is believed that the Vale is the latin farewell and not the surname Vale. In a letter dated 16 June 2000, the maker Anton Veenstra said that the quilt was in memory of a particular man named David, however 'my purpose was also generic. David for me was all the beautiful men I knew and was befriended by who succumbed to the virus and its primitive treatments' -
Visit the page William Guyer - Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt panel Quilt panel, part of Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt, in memory of 'William Guyer', cotton / paint / ink, made in New South Wales, Australia, about 1998 Rectangular quilt panel, natural cotton, landscape orientation with 'William Guyer / 15-12-66 14-2-93 / Forever Young' in painted red letters in the centre. There is printed photograph of of William and four lots of yellow roses, and three appliqué panels of printed symbols of Austswim; Royal Australian Nursing Federation; and Hospital Employees Federation. On the left hand side of the panel there is a poem 'Yellow Roses and Red Ribbons' hand written in ink: A red ribbon for your breast pocket,/Yellow roses for his grave. /A church silenced with memories./Of the one who was so brave. /Take some white tissues. /Drive behind the black car. / Pay your deepest respects . / Grieve with them from afar. /Heroes can be courageous. / Loving, gentle yet tough. / Our William was all of that. /But in the end, it just wasn't enough. /The darkness was unbeatable. / It got to William in the end. / Slowly but surely it killed him, /Broke a circle that would never mend./ The family was a chain of links./ The darkness broke it apart. / One link broke the circle split. / With the stillness of one heart. / So pin a red ribbon to your breast pocket. / Lay yellow roses on his grave. / Join the silent congregation. / To all those who died but were so brave. -
Visit the page Wayne C Nicol - Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt panel Quilt panel, part of Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt in memory of 'Wayne C Nicol', cotton / paint / ink, made in Queensland, Australia, about 2000 Rectangular quilt panel, portrait orientation. There is a central leaping dancing figure with Afro hair in appliquéd black fabric with white/black reversed ribbon at the top with '..and when the earth shall claim your feet, then shall you truly dance '. WAYNE C NICOL is written in the centre bottom of the panel with the dates 25.8.1953 and 10.2. 1997 below that. Other circular panels have hand written notes from family. The figure may be that of Wayne C Nicol and therefore of an indigenous person who is now deceased. This quilt is in memory of Wayne C Nicol 25.8.1953 - 10.2.1997. Wayne Nicol was involved in dance and theatre in Redfern in the 1970's. He participated in The Six Weeks Workshop in Sydney and later the NAISDA. It offered exciting possibilities springing from a fusion of traditional and contemporary indigenous dance based on the political times of the 1970's. It was the forerunner of the Aboriginal/Islander Dance Theatre (AIDT) and much later the Bangarra Dance Theatre. -
Visit the page John Wilkinson - Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt panel Quilt panel, part of Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt, in memory of 'John Wilkinson', cotton / wool / ink /synthetic textile, made in New South Wales, Australia, 2006 Rectangular quilt panel, landscape orientation with 'John Wilkinson 1-8-54 29-2-96' in vinyl letters on a green background, and three photographs each with a tartan border. The centre photograph is of John Wilkinson and the other two are family photographs. Four bunches of wattle are machine embroidered on the panel around his name. Two embroidered motifs are on either side of the centre photograph. Below the centre photograph, there is a blue heart appliquéd onto a red heart with buttonhole stitch with the word 'Wilko' in the centre of it. and knot of wool at the top. -
Visit the page Robert Mackenzie Kennedy - Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt panel Quilt panel, part of Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt in memory of 'William Robert Mackenzie Kennedy', cotton / wool / felt, made by Su Kennedy, New South Wales, Australia, 2002 Rectangular quilt panel, landscape orientation, with a background panel of black upholstery fabric with woven floral pattern. A woollen knitted jumper has been spread flat and attached to the background. The jumper was made before Bill's death, and is made up of various coloured knitted panels. The words 'William', 'Robert'' Mackenzie' 'Kennedy' were added to four panels of the jumper for the quilt panel. Dark red felt panels make 'Bill' on the left and '1919 1986' on the right. This quilt was made by Su Kennedy who described the components of it as follows: The Fabric Choice Dad loved flowers, especially roses. During his middle years he established a garden which featured about seventy different roses. The floral pattern in muted tones reflects his being poised between conservative constraints and instinctive taste for showy pretty things. [He resisted wearing green because he believed it was known to denote homosexuality.] He was unable ever to fully 'come out'. The Jumper I knitted the jumper for Dad a couple of years before he died. He adored it because I'd made it. For the quilt panel his full name William Robert Mackenzie Kennedy is embroidered within the design of the garment. The Felt Lettering He was generally known as Bill [although in the queer world he sometimes used his second name Robert]. The dark red denotes blood - the blood tie with me, the quilt maker; and the association with AIDS This quilt is in memory of William Robert Mackenzie Kennedy, (b 1.12. 1919 d 27.12.1986). He was born William Robert Mackenzie Kennedy 1 December 1919 and lived the majority of his life on a cattle property Glencoe in the Upper Hunter region of New South Wales. He had twin older sisters and a younger sister. Both of his parents died before he reached teen years and he was placed under a guardian, his mother's brother. He received local primary schooling and secondary schooling at private boarding schools. He had an excellent brain but did not pursue tertiary education. He would have been required to return to the farm to eventually take ownership and management. During World War II he enlisted in the RAAF and trained to become a pilot, reaching Flight Lieutenant rank. He became an instructor of trainee pilots. Late in the War he saw active service flying transport planes and was one of the first to fly over the devastated Nagasaki after the atomic bomb was dropped. He loved flying and earned an adventuresome reputation. He was one of the few who have flown under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. After WWII he married a local girl Irene who already had a son and daughter. They added a son and daughter. He was not an affectionate partner or father but saw to the health, education and material needs of the children to adulthood. He held genuine regard for Irene but they were not compatible and clashed frequently. In the late 1950s Bill was elected to the Scone Shire Council and served more than twenty years, about half that time as Shire President. Bill loved his cattle and took pride in developing a quality Hereford stud. He entered steers in competitions; his ultimate success being champion carcass in the Smithfield Market show in London. Eventually he started experimental breeding introducing European breeds to his herd by artificial insemination. In the early 70s he divorced, sold most of the cattle property and moved to Sydney. He took to share trading with great enthusiasm [he had always liked a gamble]. He joined the ALP and enjoyed expressing his left wing views. He became a regular counselling volunteer at the Wayside Chapel drop-in centre. In these later years, Dad became an avid jogger, entering the City to Surf each year until his death. He indulged heavily in the [at that time] illicit gay scene, enjoying bars, bath houses, and making occasional diary references to police raids and arrests. Throughout his life Bill maintained strong interest in the sciences, especially astronomy and space exploration. He never realised his fantasy of travelling to the moon. He also loved a wide range of music, country to rock, pop and popular classics. He enjoyed live concerts. Most years he would travel, usually overseas, always with a camera in hand. -
Visit the page Mark Diment - Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt panel Quilt panel, part of Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt, in memory of 'Mark Diment', cotton, made by the Diment family, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2004 Rectangular quilt panel, landscape orientation, the words, MARK DIMENT 1953-1994, are appliqued in various cotton fabrics onto a padded and quilted calico background. This quilt was made by Ray Diment, Dorothy Diment, Mark's parents, Pauline Diment, his sister, Philip Diment and David Diment , his brothers, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in 2004. They decided to have simply Mark's name and dates. This quilt is in memory of Mark Diment. Mark's mother, father, two brothers and his sister contributed fabrics that reminded them of Mark. His parents contributed fine fabric from a gift of table napkins, which Mark had given them. His sister contributed towelling which reminded her of Mark's love of water. Philip provided some printed fabric from a shirt. Philip Diment was the Convenor of the Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt Project from 2002 to 2013 and was instrumental in the acquisition of the Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt by the Powerhouse Museum in 2011. Philip had been involved in the Quilt in the early 90's. He had been an unfolder at several ceremonies, including the one in the Domain. When he saw a display of the Quilt at Darling Harbour in about 1999 he realised that attitudes were changing and some no longer thought it was relevant. He decided to become involved in finding a permanent home for the Quilt and also to complete one for his brother, Mark. This quilt is in memory of Mark Stephen Diment b 10 March 1953 d 1994. He was the third child of Ray and Dorothy Diment; after Pauline 1947, Philip 1950 and David 1956. Mark grew up in Blakehurst, along the George's River and attended Bald Face Public School and then Blakehurst High School. His brother Philip says that Mark inherited the creative side of his family and lived 'the interesting and varied life of what, in another time, would have been called Bohemian. Mark attended Art School whereas Philip studied Architecture. Mark was involved in street protests and gay rights and in 1978 the march that led to the Mardi Gras. He had a strong social conscience and was also concerned for the welfare of others. He brought a baby home to his mother for her to provide care. Mark did not follow a career path. There were odd jobs, cleaning of common areas in an apartment building in Liverpool and various caring roles. He studied horticulture for a while and loved plants and pets, particularly cats. He embraced Buddhism. Philip says ' in his life I see the selflessness of this spirituality. A wanderer with a full and varied life, a bit of work here, and bit of study there.’