By Earthseed Black Arts Alliance and Walk the Talk Santa Fe

Developed by a a multicultural cohort of artists, the O’Gah Po’Geh Altar Project was designed to be a focal point for honoring the intersectional struggle for liberation and well-being by the marginalized communities of Santa Fe, and New Mexico at large. The altar was meant to be an offering to the entire Santa Fe community, but specifically rooted in the Indigenous, Mestize/Chicane, Black, and immigrant communities.

This project was directly inspired by and connected to the current Civil Rights movement that began with the murder of George Floyd and spread across the country and around the globe. 

“Our mission for this project is to serve as a spiritual and aesthetic beacon for healing at the intersection of the movement for Black lives, the fight for Indigenous liberation, and the safety and well-being of the Latine/Chicane community.”

      – Tigre Bailando (lead designer/contributing artist)

The site-specific altar was built in situ over six days from adobe and reclaimed & wild-harvested wood. The four sides of the altar were oriented to the four cardinal directions, each side featuring a ceramic mask created by four different local artists, facing the homeland of that artist’s ancestors. Each side also carried a poem/prayer, again written by four different local poets addressing their unique experience in this world. 

 “As an immigrant, it’s always hard to grasp a sense of home/community in the US, but the altar shows the true spirit of what community means or could mean to me: namely people coming together to build, share and heal.”

        – Fei Xie (contributing artist)

Members of the Santa Fe community were invited to participate by leaving offerings, messages, & prayers on the altar, or simply by sitting with it and connecting to their own depth of experience.

“The altar is a means for people to come together and grieve the mistreatment of BIPOC, but also to bring some kind of peace to anyone who may need it at the time.”

      – Savannah Ortiz-Junes (contributing artist/writer)