Thursday, November 8, 2012

Las Vegas Weekly -- One Million Bones


 Clay Arts Vegas acknowledges genocide tragedy with One Million Bones contribution

Kristen Peterson

The oft-used saying one death a tragedy, a million a statistic plays on perception. In reality, a million deaths, particularly when unjust, equate to a million tragedies. But given the layer of separation in the comfort of our communities, cultures and homes, tragedy doesn’t fully sink in until a more tactile experience comes along—the shoes of Holocaust survivors or, in the case of the One Million Bones project, human bones rendered from clay. On First Friday last week, Clay Arts Vegas on Main Street displayed 8,000 bones—toes, ribs, femurs, vertebrae, jaws and fingers spread out carefully in a parking lot—all of which will be sent to Washington, D.C., for the One Million Bones project, designed to acknowledge the millions of lives lost to genocide and crises in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and Burma. Every bone equals $1 designated (up to $500,000) for CARE, a humanitarian organization fighting poverty in Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.



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Every bone made for the project equals $1 designated (up to $500,000) for CARE.
Photo: Christopher DeVargas
Members of the
Members of the "Music for Life Drum Circle" perform outside of Clay Arts Vegas. To help raise awareness of the ongoing conflicts in Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and the Congo regions, Clay Arts Vegas exhibited 8,000 hand-made clay bones outside of their building in the arts district on Main Street, during the First Friday Festival, Nov. 2, 2012. by Christopher DeVargas

Members of
Members of "Ballet Mink" perform at Clay Art Vegas. To help raise awareness of the ongoing conflicts in Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and the Congo regions, Clay Arts Vegas exhibited 8,000 hand-made clay bones and held live performances outside of their building in the arts district on Main Street, during the First Friday Festival, Nov. 2, 2012. by Christopher DeVargas

Members of the
Members of the "Music for Life Drum Circle" perform while "Nabtry African" dance interpreters dance. To help raise awareness of the ongoing conflicts in Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and the Congo regions, Clay Arts Vegas exhibited 8,000 hand-made clay bones and held live performances outside of their building in the arts district on Main Street, during the First Friday Festival, Nov. 2, 2012. by Christopher DeVargas

Clay Arts Vegas will send its 8,000 clay bones to the One Million Bones project in Washington, D.C.
Clay Arts Vegas will send its 8,000 clay bones to the One Million Bones project in Washington, D.C. by Christopher DeVargas



Check out the amazing photos by Christopher Devargas

LAS VEGAS WEEKLY

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