The Human Bonobo Project is a documentary film and multi-media performance by Shelly Mars. The project explores the complex relationships between humans and apes, sexual expression and repression, nature and culture and the political realities behind these issues. A truly interdisciplinary work that blends biology, philosophy, psychology, anthropology, and gay and lesbian rights, the project examines the anatomies of difference and sameness between humans and our closest relatives, the Great Apes.

Shelly Mars is a performance artist and a filmmaker who has been awarded a research grant from the Arcus Foundation to learn about Bonobos and the humans that work with them. Mars' work is primarily concerned with human sexual postures, and in this piece, Mars will lead audiences on a thought provoking exploration of what the Great Apes can teach us about our own human sexuality. For over 20 years, Mars has worked as a solo performance artist across the United States and worldwide. She has been the Artist in Residence at the Museum of Sex for the past five years. Her work examines issues of sex, gender and boundaries between the two. 

Mars' past shows include Bug Chasers (2004), about gay men who have unprotected sex in hopes of contracting AIDS, Sex on Mars (2001), Whiplash: Tales of a Tomboy (1999) and Invasion from Mars (1997). These pieces were performed at spaces including such New York City venues as PS 122, New York Theatre Workshop, The Kitchen and Dixon Place, and at national venues including Highways in Los Angeles.  Sex on Mars enjoyed a five month run in Provincetown, MA in 2000. Her performance monologues are published in books including Creating Your Own Monologue along with work by Karen Finley and Spalding Gray.

Mars was described by Amy Taubin of The Village Voice as “an after-hours Lily Tomlin” and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Cunnigham said, “For me there is Sappho, Gertrude Stein and Shelly Mars.” One of the first drag kings to emerge in the late 1980s, her work as a drag king has been featured in several documentaries on the subject including an HBO television special Drag Kings, and the independent film Venus Boyz.  She has appeared as a gender expert on talk shows ranging from Donahue to Montel Williams, was featured as a gender coach on the month-long A&E series Role Reversal, and co-starred on Comedy Central’s Out There in Hollywood comedy special. 

Shelly Mars' life and work are the sole subject of the feature length documentary The Dark Matter of Mars which premiered this summer at New York City’s NewFest.