“CAN YOU HEAR THE SILENCE?” Bishop Steven Charleston, president of the left-wing Episcopal Divinity School in Boston, asked. “You and I can speak for them in silence. We must let our country’s leaders know this war must end and never be repeated.”

Addressing a June 12 press conference outside the Episcopal Church’s general convention in Columbus, Ohio, the bishop was referring to the nearby exhibit “Eyes Wide Open: The Human Cost of War,” which, in its full form, comprises roughly 2,500 pairs of combat boots and over 3,000 pairs of shoes. The boots–tagged with name, rank, age, and home state–represent each soldier killed in Iraq; the shoes symbolize dead Iraqi civilians. Unmarked footwear was recently added to represent those who will die as the war continues.