It has been a challenge to capture the most characteristic of the artisanal production and popular art that we have consigned in these spaces, with the stories in Latin America. According to the ECLAC artisanal repository, it determines that there are more than 800 indigenous peoples spread throughout the Continent in America, with a population that is estimated at 45 million natives; This figure, already numerous, must be added to the Afro-Latin Americans who developed culturally in some Central American countries.
The crafts produced in Latin America are 90% handmade; Each artisan leaves his or her characteristic mark or seal on each piece, and in each one of them you can feel their own forms of expression.
This is the main reason why they represent one of the richest values of Latin American culture.
Crafts are attributed an important economic contribution to the local development of towns and therefore to the economic development of each country. When we talk about crafts, it is not only about the production of objects, but it also refers to the traditional crafts themselves such as ceramics, carpentry, jewelry and weaving, wood, among others. In addition, it constitutes a source of direct and indirect employment.
Like popular art, crafts are the mirror of the multicultural reality in Latin America, which not only includes traditional expressions, but also mestizo art, including pre-Hispanic and African production.
Afro-descendant culture covers Brazil, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Salvador, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti and Panama.
The most notable countries with deep-rooted Indo-ancestral manifestations are Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, as well as Venezuela, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil.
I congratulate the Ghada Foundation for having brought to a successful conclusion such an important project of the Encyclopedia of American Crafts and for having a great tradition in the manifestations and customs of the Andean peoples with indigenous, Afro-descendant and mestizo groups.
Cecilia Duque Duque