Roaches
A
Issue nº4
cross human history, art has taken many forms. It has taken the form of sculpture, printing, painting, and other practices with a variety of materials. With this, different art forms have become specific to certain cultures. As colonization was being perpetuated by European powerhouses such as Spain and France, a hierarchy was established between European works of art and the rest of the world. In this essay, I will explore how colonization and western culture has impacted how we see indigenous art, particularly American indige-
nous cultures. Throughout the paper, I will define colonization and Indigenous peoples, describe the history of Spain’s colonization of the Americas, compare art before and after colonization, and discuss how colonization impacted art perception by weaponizing languages and changing beauty standards. The definition of colonization is: “the action or process of settling among and establishing control over the Indigenous people of an area” (Oxford Languages, 2020). The key element of this definition is the establishment of
Colonization
How Western Influence Impacts Perception of Art Kelly Peraza Klee 28
