Indigenous peoples and the concept of art  Art is a category
created by Westerners. And even in the West, what counts as art
is far from achieving a consensus. How, then, do we assess the
applicability of this term to the visual productions of peoples
who do not possess at least a corresponding word in their
respective languages?   The topic is complex and, despite the
inadequacy of the term, many indigenous works have aroused the
sensibility and/or curiosity of the 'white man' since the 16th
century, the period during which Europeans first came ashore on
the lands inhabited by Amerindians. During this period objects
produced by these peoples were collected by kings and noblemen
as ‘rare’ specimens of ‘exotic’ and ‘distant’ cultures.  Even
today a museological conception of indigenous artefacts remains
widespread. For many, these works constitute ‘craftwork,’
considered a minor art, whose artisans merely repeat the same
traditional pattern without creating anything new. This
perspective ignores the fact that