Susan McAllister and Naomi Natale will discuss their Million Bones Project and “Art of Revolution” organization during the Edwina and Charles Milner Women in the Arts Lecture in Western New Mexico University’s Light Hall Auditorium on Thursday, September 28 at 6:30 p.m.
Installation artist and social activist Natale is best known as the Founder and Director of One Million Bones, a large-scale installation made up of a million bone sculptures handmade by people all over the world in order to spotlight the victims of genocide and visually protest ongoing mass atrocities. The project was displayed on the National Mall in Washington, DC, in 2013 and earned Natale the 2011 Arts Healing Network Award.
Natale, with Susan McAllister, co-founded “Art of Revolution,” an organization that aims to incite social change and political awareness through art. The two bring together artists and activists to create educational, socially conscious, and far-reaching work that they hope reflects societal problems through a forward-looking and solution-driven lens.
“Art of Revolution” projects include a series of speeches that combine the traditional art of rhetoric with today’s technology to showcase the power of words and taking personal stands for social change; Missing Species Reports and Missing Species Posters for the Endangered Species Coalition; and also an exhibit and book that raised awareness about the 48 million Sub-Saharan African children who are orphaned or impoverished and raised more than $90,000 to support children’s health, resilience, and education in Africa.
Executive Director of “Art of Revolution,” McAllister has two decades of arts administration and nonprofit management experience, as she formerly directed Albuquerque’s Harwood Art Center. Editor of The Harwood Anthology and Looking Back to Place published by Old School Books, and A Bigger Boat published by The University of New Mexico Press, she worked as the financial director of the National Poetry Slam held in Albuquerque.
Sponsored by the WNMU Office of Cultural Affairs and the Western Institute for Lifelong Learning, this free event is open to the public. Advanced tickets are available from the Office of Cultural Affairs in Hunter Hall on campus. For more information, call 575-538-6469.