permanent memorial

steel, bronze

15’ h x 6’ w x 5’ d (each)

2015

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A collaborative project of González-Sisneros Studio, Warrior’s Repose is a Vietnam War memorial on the campus of the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It consists of two architectural structures whose forms are inspired by the serpent columns atop the Templo de los Guerreros at Chichen Itza. The walls of the forms have lace-like cutouts with images of flora and fauna, soldiers and weapons.

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Inside the structures, visitors encounter a narrow steel shelf and a low relief bronze busts of Pete Padilla and Manuel Mora, for whom the NHCC park is named. Sometimes strangers leave candles and flowers for their loved ones who died in wars, transforming the interior into an ofrenda; a site of offering and remembrance. 

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Warrior’s Repose included extensive research into the histories, families and friends of Mora and Padilla, as well as the history of South Barelas and how Barelas’ history is situated within a much older story of urban planning, structural racism, migration, and power in Albuquerque’s South Valley.

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Spencer Beckwith, a producer at KUNM radio, interviewed the artists just prior to the dedication of the work. Listen to the interview here.