By the account of Cleve Jones, the American gay-rights activist, the now iconic AIDS Quilt came about through serendipity. He had seen a headline in the morning paper announcing San Francisco’s rising AIDS death toll, and arrived at that evening’s march with pieces of cardboard and markers, inviting attendees to write down the names of loved ones who had died of the virus. When the placards were later taped to the façade of the Health and Human Services West Coast offices, slowly dampening in the light rain, Jones saw that they looked like a patchwork quilt. He recalls first thinking of his grandmother, then realising that this was the symbol their struggle should take.

The AIDS Quilt is perhaps the most famous example of quilt making seized as a means of consciousness raising and political resistance. As a form, these quilts gesture to the scale of loss and a kind of everyday care denied to those suffering violence, but they also testify powerfully to the potential of collective labour. Stitching Solidarity acts in this tradition in support of the Palestinians currently suffering genocide under Israel’s violent siege. Artists have been invited by organisers to contribute fabric squares, which have been stitched together at Enjoy Contemporary Art Space throughout November. It is now en route between galleries around the country, growing in each place as more artists’ squares are added. Its tour includes stops in Ōtepoti Dunedin, Ōtautahi Christchurch, Whakatū Nelson, Porirua, Ngāmotu New Plymouth, Tauranga and Tāmaki Makaurau, from December into 2025.