The Provincetown AIDS Memorial
When the plague came, Provincetown responded.
Some people came here to die. Others came here for hope, for help, and for acceptance. In 1983, the Provincetown AIDS Support Group opened its doors to hundreds of people living with AIDS—at a time when many agencies were shutting out those infected. In the first fifteen years of the crisis, ten percent of Ptown’s year-round population died.
Provincetown wants to remember them.
Sixteen years after the project was started by the Cultural Council, the Provincetown AIDS Memorial has been installed on the east lawn of Town Hall with the simple inscription, “remembering” on two sides, and lines from Provincetown poets on the other two. It shimmers in the sunlight and captures the feel of the ocean, connecting people and place in a stunning physical and visual way. Already individuals are coming to touch, to remember, to grieve, and perhaps to let go.
On June 16th at 1:00pm, the memorial will be officially unveiled, and Provincetown can celebrate the lives of those who are no longer here… and those who are.
Photo (c) ptownie