One Million Bones

One Million Bones is a large-scale social arts practice, which means we combine education, hands-on art making, and public installations to raise awareness of ongoing genocides and mass atrocities in places like Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia and Burma.

Over the past three years, thousands of students, educators, artists and activists have made 1,000,000 handcrafted bones for a three-day installation event on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., June 8-10, 2013. The installation will serve as a collaborative site of conscience to honor victims and survivors, representing a visual petition against ongoing conflicts and a resounding call for much need and long overdue action. In this spirit, the Students Rebuild challenge has generated a $1 donation per bone from The Bezos Family Foundation, up to $500,000, towards CARE’s relief work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia.

For more information on the project, a detailed schedule for the National Mall installation, and to register to participate, visit www.onemillionbones.org.

You may also have a biodegradable bone made in your name for a donation of $5. We will create the bone for you and place it on your behalf on the National Mall.

We never cease to be amazed at how many people have only a vague notion of what genocide is, and how many more have no idea it’s happening today.

At One Million Bones we are committed to leveraging the power of art to inspire activism. We believe that art is a powerful tool when used to effect social change and offers an immediate and visceral connection to difficult issues.

Take a moment to watch these videos of the two 50,000 bones preview installations organized in both Albuquerque and New Orleans, as well as a talk by our Founder Naomi Natale at the 2012 Oslo Freedom Forum.

Albuquerque-<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGUlB81MKOI> New Orleans-<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S3UpNnCiUo&list=UUe2ntJZeXoCC3MvJbk34HiA&index=2> Oslo Freedom Forum-<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbUJiKKWdsc>