One Million Bones

On June 8, one million handmade human bones, created by students, artists, and activists will be laid on the National Mall as a symbolic mass grave and visible petition for bold action towards an end to genocide and mass atrocities. The installation will cover the area between 3^rd and 7^th streets and remain on the Mall through Monday, June 10

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One Million Bones is a social arts practice that uses the gut wrenching and heart rending visual of a mass grave in America’s most public protest space. The installation’s symbol, the bone, evokes the visceral horror of violence, and cuts to our most basic, common human element.

The project, led by artist Naomi Natale, uses art to help build the movement of people who believe it is our human duty to stop genocide and mass atrocities. In the shadow of some of the world’s best-known museums, One Million Bones is a on the ground level, exposed, an open invitation to engage. Photos and video of several 50,000 Bones installations and more information can be found here: onemillionbones.org.

Artists from around the world and students at over 1,800 schools contributed to the project by creating bones out of clay, plaster, paper, and other materials; over 100,000 people in all fifty states and 30+ countries have participated. The Bezos Family Foundation matched each bone with a $1 donation to the work of CARE in Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, up to $500,000, through its Students Rebuild partnership.

Natale, who works in large scale installations in a social arts practice framework, conceived the project and, along with staff and volunteers, organized over 100 installations across the country leading up to the Washington, DC event.

Speakers will include: anti-genocide activist leader John Prendergast; Carl Wilkens, the only American to remain in Rwanda during the genocide; and humanitarian activists and experts in the mass atrocities in Sudan and Congo including John Dau, Mukesh Kapila, and  Neema Namadamu. Full schedule and additional speakers to come.