The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will participate in World AIDS Day on Tuesday, Dec. 1, by showcasing two 12-foot by 12-foot sections of the AIDS Memorial Quilt.

The quilt will be on display in the Donaghey Student Center Ledbetter A, B, and C assembly rooms. Next to the panels will be screens showing the names of those lost from the UALR community to AIDS.

The quilt was conceived in 1985 by San Francisco gay rights activist Cleve Jones.

Today, more than 48,000 individual 3-foot by 6-foot memorial panels have been sewn together by loved ones. Most panels commemorate the life of someone who has died as a result of the disease.

On Oct. 11, 1987, the quilt was displayed for the first time on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., covering a space larger than a football field and including more than 1,900 panels.

The quilt was nominated for a Nobel prize in 1989, and it remains the largest community art project in the world.

The mission of the AIDS Memorial Quilt Archive Project is to preserve images and stories contained within the quilt while expanding AIDS awareness and HIV prevention education efforts.