Yale Public Humanities and the Yale University Art Gallery co-sponsored a special screening and Q&A of The Quilters (2024, 32 min.) on January 31, featuring director Jenifer McShane and members of her production team. The film follows the daily lives of several quilters inside the sewing room at South Central Correctional Center, a Level 5 maximum security prison in a small town in Missouri. In tracking several quilts from design to completion, audiences come to know these men, witnessing their struggles, triumphs, and sense of pride as they create something beautiful in this windowless sacred space, deep within the prison walls. The film was recently shortlisted for the Documentary Short Film category for the 97th Academy Awards.
Alongside the screening and Q&A, which was moderated by artist, writer, and educator Jacquelyn Gleisner, the event featured an installation of several large-scale quilts in and around the screening area in the Humanities Quadrangle.
