During U.S. westward expansion, settlers slaughtered tens of millions of bison in a war of attrition against the Indigenous nations of the Great Plains. In 1800, as many as 60 million bison roamed North America; by the end of that century, fewer than 1,500 remained. This genocide was not only ecological but cultural, removing a keystone species from the land while dismantling Indigenous autonomy, spirit, and food systems. Buffalo hides and bones became commodities in an industrial economy, while tribal lands were seized, parceled, and fenced. Yet this history is rarely taught in schools and many Americans remain unaware of this deliberate campaign to exterminate the buffalo and eliminate Native peoples. 

Over the last century there have been great efforts to bring the bison back from this near extinction. Today, more than 500,000 bison are alive in North America; roughly 30,000 of which are managed wildlife while others are maintained through tribal regenerative efforts or raised within ranching economies. The number of bison continues to grow, yet it remains only a fraction of the population that once roamed freely, activated the grassland ecology, sustained the health of the continent, and served as a primary food source and relative to Indigenous communities.

The Bison Bead Project by artist Cannupa Hanska Luger brings the bison's ongoing story of loss, resilience, and regeneration into collective focus. Since 2020, Luger has been inviting communities and institutions across North America to participate in acknowledging the effort of the bison's return through the act of making. By creating small, hand-formed ceramic beads—each representing a living bison today—participants contribute to a growing herd of bison sculptures the artist will create to acknowledge the return of this relative and bring awareness to the impact of its loss.

Over time, ceramic bead contributions will build toward the artist’s goal of creating a monumental installation of 36 life-size bison sculptures, with the ceramic beads collectively representing the more than 500,000 living bison, and counting.

Each bead becomes part of a growing, communal record, transforming individual gestures into a shared visualization of bison currently living across the continent. These handmade clay objects, once fired to become ceramic, come together as a collective additive movement of honoring the bison. 

At its core, the Bison Bead Project is an invitation to act: to make, to contribute, and to recognize our interconnectedness. It uplifts Indigenous-led efforts in bison restoration and land stewardship while offering a tangible way to participate in uncovering the truth of the bison's story. Each bead carries intention, care, and presence, threading participants into a shared commitment to more-than-human kinship and collective survival.

Cencus (Bison Bead Project) is part of Luger’s Counting Coup social engagement series, which uses large-scale social collaboration efforts to rehumanize abstract data through collective making.