Museum of Fine Arts, will present his latest project, "Sew Their Names," (Terrible Master Films) at 1 pm Saturday at the Capri Theatre. The film tells the story of a retired federal judge facing the reality of her family's past involvement in slavery and Black quilters from a rural Alabama community working to honor previously unrecognized individuals who fell victim to American slavery.
Carples viewed quilts from the Sew Their Names Project at the MMFA, leading him to create the film. The installation came from artists Wini McQueen of Macon, Ga. and Yvonne Wells of Tuscaloosa and the quilters of Mt. Willing, a rural community in Lowndes County.
The Sew Their Names installation came from the Hopewell Church Restoration Project - an effort to restore the 1840s church pastored by Judge Susan Russ Walker's great-great grandfather and built by enslaved persons - an effort also led by Rev. Dale Braxton, pastor of Snow Hill Christian Church in Fort Deposit. Walker's research into the history of the church led her to seek out the names of the individuals involved in the building of the church, names believed to be lost to time.
Carples says:
"The more I learned about the story and all the different elements, the more intrigued I became. The fact that this project found names previously thought lost to history and is honoring those names and telling these stories through art, it’s just powerful and important. I’m honored that the people on screen trusted me with this, and I hope that people find it inspiring."
This is Carples third documentary film, including Commit to the Song: The Joe Thomas Jr. Guitar Pull (2017), and Remembering Anarcha (2021).
On his approach to making the film, Carples says:
"It’s not my story; I’m the compiler, the collector, maybe the vessel that highlights other people’s stories. But it’s not my story. And for me, it’s important to keep that perspective and to be respectful. Both with Sew Their Names and with Remembering Anarcha, I’m not on screen nor do you hear my voice. It’s about the people in the film - it’s their stories."
Carples notes how making the film has shown him "how welcoming people can be":
"The quilt artists in the film - Wini McQueen and Yvonne Wells - and the former director of the Birmingham Museum of Art, Gail Andrews, all welcomed me into their homes to film. Rev. Braxton and the Mt. Willing quilters welcomed a film crew with open arms to their church in Lowndes County. People drove into Montgomery to be interviewed. There’s a trust in that. They gave their time because they felt this was important as well. And that camaraderie is a beautiful thing."
"I hope people find it entertaining and enjoyable to watch, but also, I hope that people will see a good example of what community means when they see the people of Mt. Willing," Carples says. "I hope that people will be able to use the film and the subject matter to spark important discussions. And I hope that it can help bring people together and help us learn from our history so that we can do better."
Presented by the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, "Sew Their Names" will be screened at 1 pm, Saturday, July 20 at the Capri Theatre - 1045 E. Fairview Ave. in Montgomery’s Old Cloverdale area. The director and individuals appearing in the film will participate in a Q&A session following the screening.
About the author: Joseph O. Patton is the editor-in-chief and publisher of the Capital City Free Press. He is a former news editor for the Coosa County News, lead reporter for the Montgomery Independent, and editor-in-chief of the AUMnibus, the student newspaper of Auburn University Montgomery. Patton is also the creator of and writer for the satirical news radio segment "Goat Hill Gossip," which previously aired on WAUD in Auburn, Alabama, and he has appeared on several Central Alabama radio programs as a political analyst.
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