Can materials preserve memory? Do materials contain within themselves memories of past practice? Can materials act as trace evidence? Suppose that the evocative power of images, understood as simulacra, guides us to a wide but finite universe of mental images preserved in memory. Is it possible to trace those indelible marks of past ideas and feelings within matter itself? Peru’s viceregal period, specifically the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, presents a fruitful area to study South American artistic production through the study of signs, taking into account cultural practices, artistic materials, and techniques combined with the evangelistic objectives of the period.
An image assumes agency when its materiality not only reflects but also produces meaning. In the absence of an embodied “voice” to leave us traces of the past, materials have to become an important part of the artistic language. However, this relevance, which seems obvious to visual artists, has...