Audio
ELCA Martineztown Southwest Pieta Dedication Plaque Anaya AD
Transcript
At the base of the statue is a plaque with a quote from the Poet, Rudolfo Anaya about the statue’s dedication. The text is in two columns, left is English text and Spanish is on the right. The top of the plaque displays the name of the sculpture, Southwest Pieta, and the artist’s name Luis Jimenez Jr., 1987. Text reads,
Commissioned by the city of Albuquerque, funded by the 1% for Art Program and the National Endowment for the Arts
In “Southwest Pieta,” sculptor Luis Jimenez Jr. has gone to pre-Hispanic Mexico for his inspiration. He has chosen a popular legend to illustrate the enriching of the new world. At the same time, he plays homage to the Native American heritage which the Hispanos found in New Mexico.
The pre-Hispanic Indians of Mexico conceived of their universe in dualities: light and dark, male and female. These are exemplified by the two large volcanoes near Mexico City – Popocatépetl, the male mountain and Iztaccihuatl, the female mountain.
Many stories are told about the two majestic, snow-covered volcanoes. Once these two mountains were living people, an Aztec warrior and a woman he loved. But their love was not destined to be. The woman dies, the warrior is overcome with grief. In “Southwest Pieta,” we see the warrior and the woman at this moment of death and grief, and we share their anguish. But the story tells us their love was so strong that even in death their souls are transformed into the spirit and form of the volcanoes, Popocatépetl and Iztaccihuatl.
This this legend of tragedy and love is well known in Mexico and is known throughout the Southwest because it moved north with Mexican settlers.
It is most appropriate that this sculpture will have our Albuquerque mountains as its background. The mountains incorporate our feeling as a community and reconcile earth and sky. Both art and the earth remind us of the rich cultures of the Rio Grande Valley, and what each heritage has to lend to the other. Rudolfo A. Anaya End of quote.
Description
Audio description of the quote from Rudolfo Anaya from the dedication of the Southwest Pieta Sculpture in Martineztown in Albuquerque. Part of an ELCA retracement.
Credit
NPS
Copyright and Usage Info