Introduction
During the 20th century, Latin American artists grappled with how they might develop art that was unique to them. This art was not to be academic, not to be European, and, ideally, not to be defined in relation to colonialism. That means a truly unique, Latin American Art was predicated on transforming the artist and audience from colonial subjects to a postcolonial agents of cultural production. However, this could not be achieved if the people themselves continued to work within the given framework. In this we see the major duality which defined the period: identity and art. Acknowledging and exploring one’s own identity was central to creating something truly beyond the scope of colonial power dynamics. The following artists each demonstrate a step in the development of a postcolonial, Latin American identity which, in turn, produced art unique to their context. In experimenting with, defining, complicating, and questioning identity, artists established a means to redefine contextual understanding of art and create a canon which can now be considered wholly Latin American
