One Million Bones at Columbia College

Guest Post:  Katelyn Carlson, Columbia College Chicago

At this year’s Columbia College Chicago’s Critical Encounter Summit, the International Student Organization (ISO) and One Million Bones volunteers hosted a bone making party. The Summit sought to explore the relationship between social issues and artists and communicators. We could see the potential to make One Million Bones a part of this conversation, so we all jumped at the opportunity and started planning.

We met for weeks in advance working on poster and marketing ideas, brainstorming what materials to use, how to draw people in, and how to get conversations started. Conversations on campus about genocide are not entirely rare. Documentary screenings and classes have been dedicated to spreading the word and getting people involved in genocide prevention. Therefore we knew One Million Bones would be received well. If people have already begun the conversation, we could be there as a chance to put words in to action—to put words into art/activism. 

On the night of April 9^th, the party kicked off. We had a system in mind. Once students and faculty arrived, we discussed the goal of One Million Bones. Then we passed out chunks of air-dry clay and allowed people to sit in community while crafting their bones. After they finished making a bone (or two, or three), they could eat pizza. It turned out to be a pretty good strategy. We were able to bring together a group of students and faculty interested in art/activism, interested in ending genocide, and interested in pizza.

While people worked on sculpting their bones, we saw how easily conversation about genocide could flow. People, empowered by turning out beliefs into action, openly shared their thoughts and ideas about genocide and genocide prevention. We didn’t shy away from the hard facts and reality of what’s happening in the world right now. It was incredible to watch such a mixed group of people come together and be able to discuss so freely about One Million Bones and genocide.

Jen Brown, the president of the ISO said, “People seemed really interested in the different situations and continuously asked about the facts of genocide. Quite a few people had said to me that the One Million Bones project is a powerful and creative way to express a statement. I agree with them. Not only are we making a wonderful art installation, we are building a community of awareness to situation that may seem distant from us.”

That’s one of the great things about One Million Bones, it brings people together and gets us thinking about genocide in a more personal way. Once we start to make an issue personal, once we make a deep connection to it, it’s hard to ignore it. And we must stop ignoring genocide. Surely, this is something we can all agree on.

Altogether, we had over fifty people stop by throughout the night contributing close to 160 bones. At Columbia College Chicago, we see this bone making party as just the beginning. There are many more events to come before 2013. We know our community will grow and grow, our voice will get louder and louder, and we will be a part of the collective voice standing up against genocide. We can’t wait!