Why did indigenous artists contribute to the construction and decoration of colonial churches?

During the colonial period, indigenous artists were recruited to contribute to the construction and decoration of churches primarily because Spanish authorities and friars needed to accommodate a rapidly growing population of converts. These projects, often centered within encomiendas, served as essential hubs for the conversion of indigenous towns.1

The involvement of indigenous people was driven by several factors:

• Practical Necessity: Friars and colonial authorities required skilled labor to build large-scale houses of worship and decorative elements like retables, taking advantage of the existing craftsmanship of local populations.12
• Requisition of Skills: Hispanic colonists actively repurposed indigenous artistic traditions for their own purposes. For example, highly skilled stone carvers were tasked with creating exterior decorations and baptismal fonts for new churches.2
• Communication of Imagery: Indigenous sculptors were often utilized to translate Christian imagery into a symbolic language familiar to native viewers. By blending European models with indigenous iconography, they created unique religious art forms that could be interpreted on multiple levels by both European and indigenous audiences.2

In these projects, the church prioritized the technical competence of the artists over their personal creative expression, often providing imported European works as models for them to follow.1