NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: New Yorkers mark 35th anniversary of AIDS Memorial Quilt by adding to the 54-ton folk art piece

To mark the 35th anniversary of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, New Yorkers who lost loved ones or whose lives have been impacted by HIV will have a chance to add to the 54-ton tapestry this weekend.

The New York City AIDS Memorial is hosting workshops at the Whitney Museum this weekend for locals to work alongside artists to create new panels to add to the quilt, honoring the memory of those lost and raising awareness about the devastating disease that has killed more than 40.1 million people worldwide since 1981.

Among those, more than 100,000 New Yorkers have been lost since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic.

“It’s important that we continue to remember these names,” Dave Harper, executive director of the New York City AIDS Memorial, told the Daily News.