On the cover
The odyssey of Virgil Ortiz
Like a time traveler in a science fiction saga, Virgil Ortiz (Cochiti Pueblo) transports himself between the years 1680 and 2180. Starting in 1680, he pays tribute to Po’pay (Ohkay Owingeh), leader of the Pueblo Revolt, which drove Spanish colonizers out of New Mexico for 12 years. His imaginary odyssey also projects him 500 years beyond the revolt, as characters from 2180 preserve the past and inspire his art. The overarching theme for Ortiz’s art is his futuristic narrative, which he calls Revolt 1680/2180. In it, characters called the Aeronauts “take our songs, stories, dance, art and artifacts into the future so they are not forgotten,” Ortiz explains. The preserved history includes facts about the Pueblo Revolt, which he calls the First American Revolution. He laments that “most people have not heard about the Pueblo Revolt. It isn’t in our textbooks because the genocide of our people has been covered up.” But this pivotal era in New Mexico history, including the Spanish reconquest, has to be told. He says, “I’m a conduit for that. It’s a way of saying we are still here.”
The narrative finds expression through a multifaceted range of work, including pottery, sculpture, painting, film, photography, video, installation art, fashion, jewelry and home decor. And because of Ortiz’s varied interests, the universe of his creativity is constantly expanding.
Each piece he creates is a vessel for joining past, present and future. His traditional Cochiti clay pottery, rendered in black and white, might feature futuristic designs and images of Aeronauts. At the same time, his futuristic works might display traditional Pueblo pottery motifs. “If I am chatting with a fashion client, the opportunity to explain the garment’s graphics comes back to a version of a pottery design, which leads to presenting Cochiti clay works, the revolt and right back to where I am from,” he says. “Clay, with its connection to the past, is the core of all my creations. I may be sculpting in clay and then use it to create garment silhouettes. Or when decorating the surface of a clay figure, I may design a graphic that would work on the garment’s material. It works vice versa. Perhaps it was the clay and fashion media that worked together first, but it all goes hand in hand.”