A young boy is lying in the dust behind loops of barbed wire, embraced by his father, whose head is hooded in suffocating black plastic fabric. The photograph of this heart-wrenching event, taken shortly after the 2003 invasion of Iraq at a United States detention center, inspired The Fabrication of Blindness.

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Created during a residency at Baryshnikov Arts Center, the installation enabled Mandle to explore her own sense of blindness, remorse, guilt and powerlessness related to the occupation of Iraq. Mandle began the project by fabricating 365 embroidered black hoods—the number of detainees held in Guantanamo Bay in 2007—then hanging them with thick rope in a cloud-like formation from the ceiling, blocking out the natural light in the room. Air currents slightly move the fabric hoods, evoking the spirits of the detainees, in an unsettling dark cloud of despair. Part performance, part sculpture, The Fabrication of Blindness binds viewer and detainee through the interaction of the quietly moving visitors and the undulating black hoods.

Cabinet Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Sept 19-27, 2009

Crossing the Line Festival 09

Transformer Gallery, Washington DC, Mar 21- Apr 25 2009

Baryshnikov Arts Center, NY, July 2007

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The Fabrication of Blindness is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. 

This project was created in residency at Baryshnikov Arts Center and made possible by a gift from James Duffy in memory of Martha Duffy and with support from NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. Fabrication of Blindness is produced in conjunction with J Mandle Performance. 

The Fabrication of Blindness is created from the generous production support of King’s Fountain and the Henphil Pillsbury Fund of the Minneapolis Foundation.  Fabrication of Blindness is produced with generous support from the Gilbert MacKay Foundation and the James E. Robison Foundation. Special programs surrounding Fabrication of Blindness are generously supported by Marie Nugent-Head.