Implied Line, El Linaje Implícito , is a video installation along The Old Ditch, which used to run through the old town/plaza area of Taos Village. 4 – 6 projections will dot locations along the path where the old ditch used to flow. The video will depict the ebb and flow of the landscape within the ditch, highlighting the balance of the ecosystem and reliance on rainwater flows to sustain agriculture in the region. Using real-time and time-lapse video recording techniques, videos of maps of the irrigation channel, and of the village, will be overlayed with clay, flowing water, cracking earth, and sprout growth. The video is a seamless loop of approximately 5 – 7 minutes and the imagery extends down the flow of the Old Ditch throughout each projector location.

Acequias are an integral part of irrigation and farming practices which date back to the colonial mission period in the village, and before colonial contact for the Pueblo people. The roads and encroachment of city life has re-routed the irrigation ditches causing conflicts among farmers, land owners, villagers, and the Taos Pueblo. This video installation works to reveal the hidden lines and balance of nature and human power upon the region. It is a passive experience, letting viewers see the movement of land, water, and sun where the acequia once flowed. It is also an active experience allowing viewers to walk through the video projection throwing shadows on the ground revealing the impact of human presence on the landscape by exposing the concrete upon which projected. Viewers are encouraged to follow the implied line throughout the downtown area to see the underlying river of history, land, water and life.

An Acequia Aqui Featured Artist, Sponsored by the LOR Foundation

Generously sponsored in part by Tom and Kaye Tynan

About the artist: A New Mexico based artist working in ceramics, adobe, sound, video, and electronic media. His work draws from his mixed Indigenous American and Spanish (mestizo)
heritage. He uses traditional/hand processes for earth sculpture building and incorporating electronic elements. “My practice focuses spending as much time in the desert as in the computer lab”. He has exhibited internationally in the U.S., Spain and Germany. His sculptural work focuses on the Southwest Texas to New Mexico and Arizona. A Graduate with an MFA from The University of New Mexico Department of Fine Arts in Electronic Arts, and holds a B.A. in Media Art from The University of New Mexico. His goals are to make and teach new media art along with socially engaged art practices. He is currently Assistant Professor of Digital Media at NMSU Carlsbad, a member of the SeedBroadcast Art Collective, and Chair of Pearl of the Pecos Arts and Culture District council.

Themes in recent work explore how Pueblo people and their land are divided by technology and modern transportation. When the indigenous lands of New Mexico were colonized by Spanish and American governments, ever increasing subdivisions of land and culture parallel paths of transportation. Exposing these lines in the work, consider how these divisions occurred and their effects on identity. Ceramics contrast these divisions through sculptural elements of revived indigenous traditions and electronic media. These works place concepts of land, access, and cultural adaptation in balance of earth materials and modern technology. Tracing paths of discontinuity through the history, culture and landscape of the Southwest from first colonial contact through the modern era. Each work incorporates elements of Indigenous American
culture, Spanish and industrial American influences.