Andean Tapestry

Conclusion

The changes in technique that indigenous tapestry weavers incorporated after the arrival of Europeans had cultural and economic implications—in addition to clear practical implications—for indigenous weavers. Changing the way they joined adjacent color regions allowed multiple weavers to work on the same piece at the same time, which in turn enabled a new model for tapestry production. Cutting one end of the warp instead of chaining off both ends of the warp made planning and weaving much easier, but indigenous weavers compensated for this violation of natural order by incorporating it into the preexisting ritualistic framework.

In "Artist and Empire in Inca and Colonial Textiles," Susan A. Niles argues that the use of imagery in the piece below indicates that, while tapestry incorporates certain elements of European images, it is still an indigenous artform [2]. I extend this argument to include materials: by selectively incorporating new materials available via the Europeans, indigenous weavers used the best materials available to them while maintaining ownership of the tapestry artform.

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