Thursday, January 29 7:30pm - 10:00pm
Saturday, January 31 1:00pm - 5:00pm*
no crafting experience necessary
Please join us at Change You Want to See Gallery for an artists talk, screening and workshop led by J Mandle Performance. Julia Mandle's installation Fabrication of Blindness attempts to give voice to the 700+ past and current detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Participants will learn the stories of those being held, and embroider detainees' poems onto hoods which will be exhibited at installations in Washington DC, Paris, and NYC.
As the paradigm shifts in Washington, Fabrication of Blindness hopes to negotiate the aftermath of Americans' complicit approval of the Bush administration's foreign policy. Working with local craft and activist groups where the installation is shown, sewing circles will offer an opportunity to connect the actions of dissenters with the voices of those who have been held.
Sewing experience is not required, non-crafters are highly encouraged to attend. All materials will be provided. Come Thursday evening and/or Saturday day and get your craft on. An artist talk, discussion and screening with kick the sessions off.
*Saturday drop in any time. Bear in mind the sewing project will take a minimum of two hours.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Based on the heart-wrenching photograph of an Iraqi father and son, which was taken shortly after the 2003 invasion of Iraq at a US detention center, Julia Mandle created The Fabrication of Blindness during her residency at Baryshnikov Arts Center. She has created a dark cloud by hanging 385 hoods, the number of detainees currently held in Guantanamo Bay. The cloud blocks out the natural light in the room. Julia Mandle considers the installation to be a performance with hauntingly absent performers who are represented by the hoods. Each hood is embroidered with a number and hung on a thick rope in the air. The fabric moves slightly with the wind.
Video from the first version of the production: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B6Yf0kjxZ4
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
J Mandle Performance is a Brooklyn-based, non-profit experimental arts organization founded in 1996 by Julia Mandle. The mission is to create performances which cause audiences to pause and heighten their perception of everyday environments.
Director Julia Mandle and Company Manager Jeff Hnilicka will lead the workshops.
http://www.jmandleperformance.org
