Race, History & Healing Project

The Race, History & Healing Project was launched by the City of Albuquerque in June of 2020 in response to community concerns about the Oñate statue and La Jornada public art installation on the grounds of the Albuquerque Museum.

The Oñate statue, one figure in La Jornada installation memorializing the late 1500s and early 1600s in New Mexico, was temporarily removed from view in June of 2020 with the consent of the artist and in the interest of public safety. The Race, History & Healing Project invited public participation and input that resulted in community-led recommendations for the future of the Oñate statue and La Jornada public art installation.

A section of the La Jornada sculpture featuring bronze statues of a woman and child in front of various livestock

The City remains committed to the important work of equity and inclusion in partnership with the community.

The Race, History & Healing Project supported community-centered dialogue and input to inform community-led recommendations for the Oñate statue and La Jornada public art installation to City of Albuquerque staff, boards, and City Council. The community was invited to participate by attending a series of online group conversations, completing a survey, viewing informational videos, and reading public documents about the statue and La Jornada.

More than 1,500 people provided input to the Project, and there was broad representation from the community in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, age, and location (complete demographic data will be available soon). In addition to input about the statue, participants shared insights about values, public space, land, heritage, education, history, and the role of community process.

During a special meeting on October 31, 2020 the Arts Board voted 7-2 to support the recommendations from the Project's Community Solutions Table. The Community Solutions Table recommended that the Oñate statue not be returned to the land at 19th & Mountain. They also recommended that the land should be re-envisioned and/or re-contextualized.

In addition, the Community Solutions Table expressed a desire to hear from the living artists to discuss next steps. The Community Solutions Table also expressed the need for continued public dialogue and input as planning and decisions move forward.

In December 2020, City Council acknowledged receipt of the community recommendations regarding La Jornada.

View the Race, History & Healing Project community process report from December 2020.

View the supporting documents from June-October 2020.

View a preliminary summary of the public input from October 26, 2020.

View the Race, History & Healing Project update from October 30, 2020.

A recording of the October 31, 2020 special Arts Board meeting can be viewed here. Please note: due to a technical outage approximately 10 minutes of the meeting were lost between 12:30 and 12:40 p.m. There was no vote taken during this outage.

Archive of updates:

Watch videos about public art, monuments, the Oñate statue and La Jornada.

What is a monument?

How is public art selected?

Search public records related to the Oñate statue and La Jornada installation.

The Oñate statue and La Jornada installation are public art created as part of the City of Albuquerque’s Cuarto Centenario Project celebrating the 400^th anniversary of the founding of New Mexico. There are over 1,000 pages of documents spanning more than 10 years related to La Jornada and the Cuarto Centenario Project. The Project files include artist contracts, minutes from City meetings, news articles, letters and correspondences, and planning documents.

View the Cuarto Centenario Project files here.