Exploring the Impact of Captions on the Construction and Presentation of Colonial Latin American Cultural Identities

Abstract

Spanish Colonialism in Latin America from the late sixteenth to the late eighteenth century constitutes a time period during which the interactions between numerous cultural groups, both indigenous and colonial, resulted in the creation of distinct regional, cultural, and individual identities and artistic practices. The proposed paper explores the role and importance of Spanish captions in paintings created in the colonial viceregal centers of New Spain (today Mexico) and Peru through a discussion of two maps from the Relaciones Geográficas (indigenous made maps), three colonial portraits, and two casta paintings (painted records of racial mixes). These paintings, spanning from the end of the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, all feature written segments directly on their surface to enable the effective communication and portrayal of the chosen colonial subject to the viewer. Being created in such a diverse and unstable cultural climates each paintings’ capacity for success in communication and representation was ensured through the use of captions. Thus, the paper approaches the study of captions through a close consideration of the discussed captions’ messages, their intended perception, and main audience. My paper will discuss the instrumental role of the Spanish captions when visualizing and creating distinct colonial identities. The caption served as a means of literally spelling out the importance of the colonial settings, their distinct social systems and identities reinforcing their validity vis-à-vis the imposed Euro-Spanish ideal.