This unique collection of handwoven and crocheted panels was created by North Shore residents with HIV/AIDS as a means of claiming space and visibility for interconnected community resilience, strength, and pride. 

Though initiatives like World AIDS Day and the AIDS Quilt Names Project rightfully honor those we’ve lost to the epidemic, those who survived to tell the tale often feel invisible and even unsafe to disclose their HIV status in public spaces. Survivors diagnosed early in the epidemic still struggle with psychological and medical trauma from the toxic effects of early medications, loss of friends, partners, livelihoods, and body autonomy, and multiple experiences of discrimination compounded by LGBTQ+ stigma, racism, and other inequities. Sharing the common thread of an HIV/AIDS diagnosis, many survivors have woven friendships and communities to support one another and form life-long bonds.

Together, these artists represent half of North Shore Health Project’s HIV/AIDS client population, a group that has come together to create an immersive fiber arts exhibit of panels, scarves, and blankets that tell the joys and sorrows of their personal stories.  Many of the pieces display the artist's year of HIV/AIDS diagnosis and whatever other words, symbols, and images best express their thoughts and feelings today.  

Led by clients from the North Shore Health Project this spatial justice project was made possible with funding from NEFA (New England Foundation for the Arts), Essex County Community Foundation, and Gilead Sciences.   

Interwoven was first exhibited June 3 through June 22, 2023, at Rockport Art Association & Museum, Rockport MA. Currently, the exhibit can be viewed in our site, 33 Commercial St. Gloucester MA. We are currently in conversation about future exhibits on the North Shore. Contact us with any inquiries.