Plight of the Recon Watchmen
By Virgil Ortiz
During the 1600s, the Spanish colonized parts of the Southwest. In 1680, a Pueblo leader named Po'Pay led a successful revolt against them, pushing them out of the Pueblos they had begun to occupy. Over the past two decades, Ortiz has been creating a combination of ceramic pots, busts, masks, and elaborate costumes that depict 19 groups of characters representing the 19 remaining Pueblos in New Mexico.
This year, Ortiz unveils his latest character, the Recon Watchmen, in anticipation of filming his screenplay "Revolt 1680/2180." Ortiz envisions a dystopian future 500 years after the Pueblo Revolt, in which time-riders return to the era of the revolt to aid their ancestors.
The Recon Watchmen are from the year 2180, watching over the past, present, and future of the Pueblo peoples in New Mexico. The Watchmen—led by their matriarch—conduct covert surveillance of Earth to detect any movements of the Castilian Army encroaching the Pueblo lands.
Donning helmets adorned with Stargate crests, the Recon Watchmen, armed with impenetrable Ha'pons (war shields), start sealing off pathways and portals and storm the Castilian settlements. The enemy is besieged and driven out. They quickly gather the survivors and search for any remaining clay artifacts from the battlefields. They realize that challenges and persecution will continue, so preserving and protecting their clay, culture, language, and traditions from extinction is imperative.
Explore the history with Valerie Rangel
Each site in the Ojos Differentes project was chosen in collaboration with Santa Fe City Historian Valerie Rangel, as an augmented reality expansion and collaboration with her GIS storymaps. Learn more about the What Lies Beneath Monument by reading her essay below.
About Virgil
Historic events like the 1680 Pueblo Revolt may not immediately spring to mind when you think of science fiction, but blending the two have occupied Ortiz for some time. In May 2015, Denver Art Museum curated Ortiz’s solo exhibit, Revolt 1680/2180: Virgil Ortiz. Set against Ortiz’s graphic murals, the exhibition featured 31 clay figures and invited visitors to immerse themselves in a storyline that Ortiz has been working on for nearly two decades. The storyline transports the viewer back more than three hundred years to the historical events of the 1680 Pueblo Revolt and then hurtles forward through time to the year of 2180, introducing a cast of characters along the way.
Although Ortiz has projects in varying mediums, Ortiz is first and foremost a potter. Ortiz says, “Clay is the core of all my creations. My work centers on preserving traditional Cochiti culture and art forms. It’s important to recognize that Pueblo communities are very much alive and have a level of vitality that speaks to generations of strength, persistence, brilliance, and thriving energy.”
Recently named the recipient of the 2022 Museum of Indian Arts and Culture’s Living Treasure Award, Ortiz collaborated on a newly released book, Virgil Ortiz: ReVOlution, a mid-career monograph retrospective that presents a view into Ortiz's transformative pottery and art to illuminate his creative and artistic expressions. With a vision that merges apocalyptic themes, sci-fi, and storytelling, Ortiz's ingenuity as a contemporary artist, provocateur, activist, futurist, and preservationist extends to his creativity adapted from traditional Cochiti pottery designs from one art form to the next.