Tapuya Woman
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Moi University *
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English
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Nov 24, 2024
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docx
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Albert Eckhout, Tapuya Woman Holding a Severed Hand
Albert Eckhout's "Tapuya Woman" (https://www.akg-images.co.uk/archive/Tanuya-Woman: 2UMDHUSU7109.html),
(1641)
I chose to focus on Albert Eckhout's Tapuya Woman Holding a Severed Hand, figure number two. An indigenous woman who is the subject of a painting is shown to be unperturbed. The woman is standing casually with a dog amid natural Brazilian vegetation, such as the manioc
plant, and appears to be dressed in some of it. She has a human hand in her left hand and a human foot in the basket she is carrying on her back. Nothing in the picture seems to provide any
clues as to whether this originated from someone she killed or perhaps belonged to a body of someone she knew. It is reasonable to believe that the inclusion of having the woman carry
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human remains was done so in order to instill fear in the audience because the concept of someone engaging in murder or maybe anthropophagy tends to terrify most people. The artist most likely projected this idea that he was probably conditioned to have on a subconscious level through his art in order to further the idea that those indigenous to Brazil were not what they deemed civilized. The painter may have intended for the viewer to have negative feelings towards the subject of the painting in order to further the notion that those people were not what they deemed civilized. Having this mental picture makes it simpler to defend the potential colonization of these people in the sixteenth century according to colonial western norms, let alone any potential cruel deeds that come along with forcible colonization of a group of people.
However, the painter did not equip the subject with any weapons, and the woman's position is not intimidating but rather calm, along with her expression, to avoid giving the viewers of the painting the impression that the subject may threaten or overwhelm them or their way of life. The painting was intended for the western audience to perceive the indigenous woman as different and in a way that would scare their sensibilities while at the same time reaffirming their worldview that what the West was doing to the global south through colonization was merited by the actions of the indigenous people there, based on all the context that has been provided.
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