Visualizing Juan de Oñate’s Colonial Legacies in New Mexico

ABSTRACT In 2005, the Cuarto Centenario memorial in Albuquerque, New Mexico was installed, comprised of La Jornada, a sculptural grouping honouring Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate’s 1598 settlement in New Mexico, and Numbe Whageh, an earthwork reflecting a Native response to Oñate’s colonial legacies. This essay considers the June 2020 removal of Oñate from the memorial’s sculptural grouping, after a protestor was shot in a standoff with a New Mexico citizen “militia.” I will also examine other visual representations of Oñate in the state, including an equestrian statue in Alcade that was also removed in June 2020, as well as the inclusion of “Oñate’s foot” in the 2018 SITE Santa Fe exhibition Casa Tomada. These representations, and their active histories, demonstrate how Oñate’s colonial violence continues to resonate in the present day.