Art Appreciation: Art of Indigenous Cultures: Sami, Aboriginal, Native American and More

Indigenous people are the earliest known inhabitants of an area, and their descendants. According to Amnesty International, there are more than 5,000 indigenous peoples in the world today, representing just under 6% of the world’s population. In the introduction, you will learn about the concept of “indigenous people” and its history and will discover a lot of groups, throughout the globe. Their strong link to their territory and the natural environment will become clear, as well as the way they have maintained ancestral traditions, including arts and craft.

In the subsequent sessions, we will focus on the art and culture of a few of these indigenous peoples. Among others, we will study the artistic traditions of the Inuit in today’s Canada, the Navajo in the U.S., the Sami in Scandinavia, the Dayak in Borneo, and the Aboriginal Australians. The objects studied will sometimes be paintings and sculptures, but we will also study pottery, textile, jewellery, and masks. Many of these art objects were created with a functional or religious purpose in mind.

As we study these works, we will encounter many instances of hybridisations, where the ancestral forms, techniques and materials fuse with those of the newcomers’ culture. As we study cultures and art objects that are usually under-represented in art museums, we will discuss issues of marginalisation, discrimination, and assimilation, as well as a relatively recent movement of defence of indigenous rights.