Oñate’s foot

The syndrome of the phantom limb-the uncanny sensation that an amputated body part is still attached, and on occasion even has pains or itches-resonates deeply with the tales of welcoming and eviction, hosts and ghosts. In 1599, at the end of the sixteenth century, the conquistador Juan de Oñate ordered the amputation of the right feet of twenty-four Acoma Pueblo prisoners. In 1997, at the end of the twentieth century, the right foot of the statue of Oñate in Alcalde, New Mexico, went missing. The monument to the "Last Conquistador" was defaced with surgical, orthopedic precision. The statue was restored soon thereafter, but that certainly didn't abate the itch.
Text written by Curaotr José Luis Blondet for the exhibition catalog.