Archaeology, Identity and Art: The Caranqui Murals of Ibarra, Ecuador

Summary

The incorporation of signs and symbols derived from an ancient, indigenous past has a long and venerable history in the tradition of New World muralism. As an important form of public art, murals merit a more sustained consideration of content, context, and communicative intent. The use of specific, realistic archaeological content in contemporary works is an interesting phenomenon that underscores the relation between the politics of identity (re-)construction and historical "veracity"/materiality, as well as the different of ways in which archaeology figures in society today. This paper explores the intersection of public art, community identity, and local archaeology in the context of a recently painted set of murals created by a group of local activist artists in the vicinity of Ibarra, Ecuador.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Mural Painting and the Ancient Americas

Keywords

Spatial Coverage