One Million Bones- Srebrenica, Bosnia Herzegovina
In July 2015, Bosnia recognized a tragic anniversary: twenty years since the Bosnian genocide and the massacre in Srebrenica. The Art of Revolution (Albuquerque) and the Post-Conflict Research Center (Sarajevo) worked together to bring 100,000 of the bones created for the One Million Bones project to the Sebrenica-Potočari Memorial Center for the Commemoration of Genocide in Srebrenica and to use as part of a permanent art installation and memorial to the victims of genocide.
For the commemoration, the Post-Conflict Research Center gathered more than 100 volunteers in Srebrenica from Bosnia and the Western Balkans to take part in a youth event centered around increasing Bosnian and regional youth involvement in peacebuilding processes. In addition to local youth, international youth volunteers from the Netherlands, Costa Rica, the United States, Australia, France, Norway, the United Kingdom, Slovenia, Austria, and the Czech Republic also took part.
Hatidža Mehmedović, Founder of the Mothers of Srebrenica who lost her two sons and husband to the genocide, deeply supports this initiative to bring young people from across the region and the world to commemorate the lives lost alongside the victims. “When we victims are gone, we want young people to know what took place here and we want the world to forever remember our sons, fathers, husbands and brothers that were lost to this senseless atrocity. I believe this project will help keep their memory alive.”